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Police clear Istanbul's Gezi Park after Erdogan warning | |
(34 minutes later) | |
Riot police have moved to clear the protest camp in Istanbul's Gezi Park, using tear gas and water cannon. | |
Police began dismantling the tents that protesters had put up in the park. | |
The move came hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned protesters to evacuate the area ahead of a rally by his AK party on Sunday. | The move came hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned protesters to evacuate the area ahead of a rally by his AK party on Sunday. |
Plans to redevelop the park sparked a wave of broader anti-government unrest and protesters had vowed to stay there until their demands were met. | Plans to redevelop the park sparked a wave of broader anti-government unrest and protesters had vowed to stay there until their demands were met. |
Local residents took to their balconies or leant out of windows banging pots and pans, while car drivers sounded their horns in support of the protesters, Reuters news agency reports. | |
Earlier, in a speech in the capital Ankara, Mr Erdogan told thousands of AK party supporters: "If Taksim Square is not evacuated, this country's security forces will know how to evacuate it." | |
"Nobody can intimidate us. We take no orders or instruction from anyone but God," he added. | |
He also dismissed the wave of demonstrations as part of an organised plot against him. | |
On 31 May, a crackdown on environmentalists in Gezi Park provoked protests across Turkey against the police's actions and against Mr Erdogan's government. | |
On Saturday, the protesters vowed to stay there, despite a promise by Mr Erdogan to halt the development plan for the park until a court ruling on the issue. | |
Five people have died and thousands have been injured since the protests began. | |
Demonstrators have accused Mr Erdogan's government of becoming increasingly authoritarian and of trying to impose conservative Islamic values on a secular state. | |
The police crackdown on protesters in Istanbul, Ankara, and other towns and cities has drawn international concern, especially from Europe. |