The violence was sparked by plans to build on a city park but have broadened into nationwide anti-government unrest.
Turkish protesters have clashed with police in Istanbul overnight, in some of the worst violence since unrest erupted three days ago. Protesters in Besiktas district tore up paving stones to build barricades, and police responded with tear gas and water cannon.
According to BBC, the violence was sparked by plans to build on a city park but have broadened into nationwide anti-government unrest. Protesters say the Turkish government is becoming increasingly authoritarian.
They fear Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s Justice and Development Party (AKP) is trying to impose conservative Islamic values on the officially secular country and infringe on their personal freedoms, correspondents say.
Officials say more than 1,700 people have been arrested in demonstrations in 67 towns and cities, though many have since been released.
Late on Sunday, the White House said in a statement that all parties should “calm the situation”, and reaffirmed that peaceful demonstrations were “part of democratic expression”. The US previously criticised the security forces for their initial response to the protest.
British travellers to Turkey have been warned to stay clear of demonstrations following a weekend of anti-government protests. The Foreign & Commonwelath Office, updating its travel advice on Saturday, said: “Following recent demonstrations in Istanbul and other cities in Turkey in which police used tear gas and water cannons, the possibility of further demonstrations remains high.“
Mosques, shops and a university in Besiktas were turned into makeshift hospitals for those injured in Sunday night’s demonstration. The BBC’s Louise Greenwood in Istanbul says several thousand people took part in the protest outside the recently decommissioned Besiktas football stadium. She says some of the protesters were coughing violently and vomiting after police fired gas canisters into the crowd.
Unrest was also reported in the capital, Ankara, and the western coastal city of Izmir in the west, as well as Adana in the south and Gaziantep in the south-east. Police raided a shopping complex in central Ankara where they believed demonstrators were sheltering, Reuters news agency reported.
On Sunday, the area around Gezi Park, where the protests first erupted, was largely peaceful. But after police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators, triggering accusations of excessive force, the numbers swelled in nearby Taksim Square. The protests began on a small scale last week over redevelopment plans for the park to make way for the rebuilding of an Ottoman-era barracks, reportedly to house a shopping centre. The demonstrators say the park is one of the few green spaces in Istanbul, and object to the loss of public space for commercial purposes.
Istanbul mayor Kadir Topbas has said he regrets “not informing the people enough” on the details of the construction project in Taksim, the spark that led to the protests.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
