Retired police officer Ali Şekeroğlu shot himself Friday at a pension protest outside Turkey’s Constitutional Court in Ankara and died later in a hospital.

Şekeroğlu was 60 and had two children, T24 reported.

Before the shooting, he told others he could not make ends meet and carried a sign reading “Not for money, for our dignity,” according to soL.

The protesters sought an across-the-board pay increase granted to public employees in 2023 that was not added to public retirees’ pensions.

The court accepted an individual petition for review on September 18 but has not ruled on whether the exclusion violated constitutional rights.

Organizers canceled their planned statement after Şekeroğlu was wounded, while lawyer Ali Erdem Gündoğan argued that retirees could not cover housing and basic needs with their pensions.

Turkey’s main opposition New Party’s leader Özgür Özel blamed the government for retirees’ financial hardships and warned that their anger was nearing a “social explosion.”

Tülay Hatimoğulları, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), called for retirees’ demands to be heard and asked how many more lives would be lost under the weight of poverty.

The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) called for pensions high enough to cover basic needs and accused policymakers of ignoring people who say they cannot get by.