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Turkish riot police move to clear protesters from Gezi Park Turkish police storm protest camp using teargas and rubber bullets
(about 2 hours later)
Hundreds of riot police have used teargas and water cannons to storm the protest camp at the centre of Turkey's anti-government unrest. Hundreds of riot police used teargas and water cannons to storm the protest camp at the centre of Turkey's anti-government unrest, following a warning by Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that protesters should quit Gezi Park or be removed by security forces.
Officers moved in to Istanbul's Gezi Park on Saturday night shortly after a concert attended by both protesters and tourists drew to a close, eyewitnesses said. Erdogan had delivered his warning at a rally of tens of thousands of supporters of his AKP party in Ankara promising that the square would be cleared by Sunday in time for a second rally there. "We have our Istanbul rally tomorrow," Erdogan warned. "I say it clearly: Taksim Square must be evacuated, otherwise this country's security forces know how to evacuate it."
The police seized control of the main square and park within 20 minutes and used bulldozers to demolish structures used by protesters. Barely two hours later white-helmeted riot police assaulted Istanbul's Gezi Park shortly after a concert attended by protesters and tourists drew to a close. Protesters had vowed earlier to continue with their occupation, although they had promised to remove barricades and reduce the number of tents in the park. Police had given 15 minutes' notice to clear the park and adjoining Taksim Square before storming the protest camp.
The move encountered little initial resistance but several thousand people were reported to be massed in side streets near the park with people being injured as the anti-government campaigners responded with chants and fireworks. The lightning speed of the move to seize the square and park caught protesters by surprise. They were quickly scattered by teargas canisters and rubber bullets. Within 20 minutes a bulldozer had moved in to demolish structures and tents that had been used by the anti-government movement. A little later police and municipal workers could be seen tearing down fences around the park and removing tents.
Earlier on Saturday, the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, shaken by more than two weeks of protests, denounced those demonstrating against him in his most furious intervention in the crisis in a speech to tens of thousands of supporters from his Justice and Development party (AKP). Children and tourists were among those caught up in the assault amid reports of many injuries. But despite quickly taking control of the park, running battles between police and thousands of protesters, driven back into the warren of side streets beside the square, carried on for hours afterwards.
Speaking at a rally on Saturday evening in a suburb of Ankara, Erdogan delivered a defiant message, depicting those on the streets as "traitors playing a game", "looters" or part of a conspiracy against the government. At one stage a bearded middle-aged man draped himself over the plough of one of the water cannons to try to prevent it moving forwards before he was beaten back by batons and gas. Protesters sought refuge in hotels and cafes, including hundreds in the Divan hotel, which was stormed by police.
While the Ankara rally, which will be followed by a second on Sunday in Istanbul, was ostensibly called ahead of local elections in eight months' time, Erdogan used it to address the crisis. Many had been expecting a final move to clear the park after Erdogan's speech. None, however, had anticipated the action, which began at 7.30pm when the square was crowded with people, to begin so quickly. Tayfun Kahraman, a member of Taksim Solidarity, an umbrella group of protest movements, said an unknown number of people in the park had been injured, some by rubber bullets. "Let them keep the park, we don't care any more. Let it all be theirs. This crackdown has to stop. The people are in a terrible state," he told the Associated Press by phone.
His speech followed the latest setback for his attempts to bring an end to the protests, which have claimed five lives and injured around 5,000 people when protesters occupying Gezi Park in Istanbul vowed to stay there despite the prime minister's appeals to leave. NUT executive member Martin Powell-Davies was part of a British trade union delegation that had approached the fringes of the square as police moved in. He said: "There was a concert by a well-known musician with hundreds of people and families in a festival atmosphere in the square and then suddenly from all sides the police came with water cannon and teargas." He struggled to speak as he choked on teargas and protesters regrouped to chant anti-government slogans. He said: "There are hundreds of Istanbul residents who have come out on to the streets to show their opposition. They are banging the shutters in protest at the sides of the streets."
"Anyone who wants to hear the national will, should come and listen to [Ankara]," Erdogan said. "We are not like those who took Molotov cocktails, or honked their car horns. They're irritated to be called capulcu – 'looters'. I tell you it's a crime to violate order." The assault followed Erdogan's defiant message delivered in a suburb of Ankara, depicting those on the streets as "traitors playing a game", "looters" or part of a conspiracy against the government. "Anyone who wants to hear the national will, should come and listen to [Ankara]," Erdogan said. "We are not like those who took molotov cocktails, or honked their car horns. I tell you it's a crime to violate order." He insisted that he had a clear mandate to govern.
He insisted, once again, that he and the AKP had a clear mandate to govern.
Erdogan has veered erratically over the last 17 days between belligerent remarks meant to reassure his core support and a heavy-handed crackdown, followed by more conciliatory gestures, in recent days.
In Ankara, however, where police sprayed teargas at protesters near the parliament building only hours earlier, the message was at times close to inflammatory, accusing protesters of "beating women in headscarves", and warning that the AKP would settle scores at the ballot box. Although he has used much of the same language during the past two weeks, the context – before a vast gathering of AKP voters – suggests a dangerous escalation of the political rhetoric.
Erdogan's speech came only hours after the refusal of protesters to leave Gezi Park. After all-night talks among protesters at the camp in the park, representatives said they planned to continue their standoff with the government and that their "struggle" would continue.
"We will continue our resistance in the face of any injustice and unfairness taking place in our country," said the Taksim Solidarity group. "This is only the beginning." But they said they would remove some barricades and reduce the number of tents.
Earlier on Saturday, President Abdullah Gul – who has struck a more conciliatory tone during the crisis – used Twitter to urge "everyone … [to] return home", adding that "the channels for discussion and dialogue" were open, echoing similar remarks by Erdogan.
Erdogan had met with representatives of Taksim Solidarity, the umbrella group representing the protesters, on Friday and agreed to suspend plans to demolish Gezi Park to build a replica of an Ottoman-era barracks.
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