Turkish riot police have cleared Istanbul’s Taksim Square, which has been occupied by anti-government protesters for close to two weeks.
Police deployed water cannon and fired tear gas and rubber bullets, causing many protesters to flee the square into adjoining Gezi Park.
Some activists hurled fireworks, fire bombs and stones at police.
The unrest began after a crackdown on an environmental protest over Gezi Park’s redevelopment.
At the scene
Mark LowenBBC News, IstanbulLooking out at Taksim Square, I can see the clouds of tear gas that have covered the centre of Turkey’s biggest city for much of the morning.
Police trucks have been spewing arcs of water cannon against the protesters, some of whom have responded with chunks of stone and petrol bombs.
The authorities claim this is an attempt to clear the square of banners, tents and flags scattered across it since the protest movement began 12 days ago. They say they will not enter the park that adjoins Taksim, the development of which first sparked the unrest.
The prime minister had called a meeting with protest leaders tomorrow. That announcement was seen as an olive branch – a potential diplomatic means to break the deadlock. But those talks may now be thrown into jeopardy by the strongest police action in Istanbul in over a week.
The protests then widened, with demonstrators accusing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government of becoming increasingly authoritarian and trying to impose conservative Islamic values on a secular state.
Mr Erdogan defended the police intervention on Tuesday, saying that an environmental movement had been hijacked by people who wanted to harm Turkey.
In a speech that was frequently interrupted by applause, he asked: “What did the protesters expect? That we would kneel down before them?”
And he appeared to contradict Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu, who had earlier said the police had no intention of breaking up the protest in Gezi Park.
“I invite them to withdraw from the park and I ask this as prime minister.
“I am sorry but Gezi Park is for taking promenades, not for occupation,” Mr Erdogan said.
Reuters news agency is reporting that several dozen riot police briefly entered the park but withdrew back into Taksim Square when they were confronted by a crowd of several hundred protesters.
Police have removed protesters’ banners which had been hung from a building overlooking Taksim Square, replacing them with the national flag and a portrait of the father of the Turkish state, Kemal Ataturk.
This was seen as a show of force by the Turkish police
The BBC’s Mark Lowen, in the square, says this was a deliberate show of force that may jeopardise plans by Mr Erdogan to meet the protest organisers on Wednesday.
Three people have died and more than 5,000 have been injured since the protests began.
Smaller protests have occurred in the capital, Ankara, too. Police there have used water cannon and tear gas to break up demonstrations almost every night.
