Turkish police, protesters clash over park demolition

ISTANBUL - Police withdrew Saturday from Istanbul's Taksim Square after protesters turned out in the tens of thousands, calling for the resignation of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The protests grew out of anger when police used heavy-handed tactics on Friday to break up a peaceful sit-in against the demolition of Gezi Park, which is scheduled to be torn down to make space for a new shopping mall and reconstruction of an Ottoman-era barracks.

The park demonstration then turned into a wider protest against Erdogan, who is seen as becoming increasingly authoritarian, and spread to other Turkish cities - including Izmir, Ankara and Bodrum - despite the court decision to temporarily halt the demolition of the park.

Erdogan called on demonstrators to end their protest Saturday, but he remained adamant about the redevelopment plans at Taksim that sparked the demonstrations and said the government would press ahead with construction.

In a televised speech, Erdogan said police may have used tear gas excessively while confronting protesters and said such accusations would be investigated. But he said the protesters didn't represent the majority and accused them of raising tensions.

Interior Minister Muammer Guler said more than 900 people were detained during the protests but some of them were released after questioning. He did not say how many were still in custody. The protest had spread to 48 cities, he added.

Bulent Arinc, the deputy prime minister, said the government was wrong to break up the peaceful protest with tear gas.

"It would have been more helpful to try and persuade people who said they didn't want a shopping mall instead of spraying them with tear gas," Arinc told reporters.

On Saturday, protesters were dancing on overturned police barriers as plumes of smoke rose from one of the construction barracks next to the park. It was set ablaze earlier by demonstrators and continued to smolder after firefighters extinguished it.

Police forced out protesters - who had been entrenched in the park since Wednesday - in a dawn raid on Friday, leading to a massive turnout that lasted through the night and saw touristy Istiklal Street turned into a maze of overturned plants, carts and broken glass as people broke shop windows.

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Turkish police, protesters clash over park demolition