Relative calm returns to Istanbul square

Protests in Istanbul and several other Turkish cities subsided Sunday after two days of fierce clashes following a police crackdown on a peaceful gathering.

Still, several hundred protesters remained at Istanbul’s main square, which was the scene of the largest and fiercest anti-government outburst in Turkey in years, and numbers were swelling during the day. The group lit a bonfire Saturday night and chanted anti-government slogans in an all-night vigil, shrank as rain set in, but grew again Sunday afternoon.

The demonstrations were touched off Friday by a police crackdown on a demonstration against the razing of the adjacent Gezi Park, and spread to other Turkish cities.

On Saturday, heavy clashes between rioters and police were reported in Ankara, while in Istanbul police fired tear gas at demonstrators who set fires outside the office of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Protests were also reported in Izmir.

Amnesty International said two people were killed in the clashes. Over 900 people were arrested, according to the Interior Ministry. Medics told Reuters 1,000 people were injured in Istanbul and several hundred more elsewhere in the previous two days of clashes.

On Friday, police fired tear gas and turned on water cannons at angry demonstrators, some of whom threw rocks and bottles on their march toward Taksim. In an area normally abuzz with tourists, stores were shuttered and protesters fled into luxury hotels for shelter.

Turkish authorities later removed barricades and allowed thousands of demonstrators into the square in an effort to calm tension. Sounding defiant even as he bowed to protesters and pulled back police, Erdogan promised to stick to the government’s redevelopment plans — which protesters fear will remove one of the few green spaces in the sprawling city.

Turkish President Abdullah Gül called on the government and security authorities Saturday to act with sensitivity, common sense, and “maturity” to avoid the violent scenes Turkey has witnessed over the last several days, Hurriyet reported. The Turkish Interior Ministry on Saturday warned that police officers who would be found to have used tear gas abusively would be prosecuted.

At Taksim, protesters chanted slogans against Erdogan’s government and called on him to resign, as the demonstration turned into a wider protest against the prime minister, who is seen as becoming increasingly authoritarian, and spread to other Turkish cities.

By Sunday morning, Taksim was mostly empty, with scattered groups of people milling around the trash-strewn plaza against a backdrop of prominent signs. NTV television reported that protesters built barricades there to keep police from returning.