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Turkish riot police fire tear gas in effort to clear Istanbul protesters

By Richard Engel and John Newland, NBC News

ISTANBUL – Fierce clashes between protestors and Turkish riot police turned this normally quiet and tourist friendly city on its head Tuesday as thousands of demonstrators were forced out of Istanbul's Taksim Square by tear gas and a water cannon.

The battle for the square had calmed slightly by Tuesday night, but a core group of dedicated protestors continued to confront police following a day full of the fiercest anti-government demonstrations in the country’s recent history. Taksim Square will likely fill again with people early Wednesday, and the violence could bleed into a another day or even longer.

The clashes Tuesday began with jeering protestors confronting police by banging drums and demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Protesters pelted water cannon vehicles with stones and ambulances were later seen moving in and out of the square.

Erdogan had earlier called on protesters to stay out of Taksim, the center of more than a week of demonstrations that have divided the country he has dominated for a decade. Erdogan, who denies accusations of authoritarian behavior, declared he would not yield.

"They say the prime minister is rough. So what was going to happen here? Were we going to kneel down in front of these (people)?" Erdogan said as action to clear the square began.

"If you call this roughness, I'm sorry, but this Tayyip Erdogan won't change," he told a meeting of his AK party's parliamentary group.

The latest violence began Tuesday morning when police moved past barriers erected by the protesters and into the square to scatter a small number of people who have been camped there to protest against a planned redevelopment of the square.

Hundreds more protesters nearby - many wearing gas masks - joined to charge toward police, throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks. Police responded with round after round of tear gas canisters and frequent blasts from water cannons.

Tourists fled hotels near the square, covering their mouths with napkins, as clouds of noxious gas spread over a large area downwind of the center of the protests.

As the protests grew Tuesday morning, hundreds more riot police arrived, wearing gas masks and carrying plastic shields.

Police used megaphones to urge protesters to keep back and stop throwing missiles, but their pleas had little effect.

A police vehicle and a water cannon burned as Molotov cocktails, or gasoline bombs, found their targets.

During the afternoon, police briefly moved into Gezi Park, the tree-filled part of the square that is at the heart of the protests, and withdrew minutes later after being confronted by several hundred demonstrators, Reuters reported.

Clashes ebbed and flowed through the day, with the protesters eventually shooting fireworks and what appeared to be high-speed model rockets toward the police, who continued to use tear gas and water cannons to drive back the demonstrators.

Government officials acknowledged that protesters had been injured, with Istanbul Gov. Hüseyin Avni Mutlu describing the injuries as minor. Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News, however, quoted the president of the Turkish Medical Association as saying hundreds of protesters had been injured and five of the cases were critical.

The protests began May 31 after police cracked down on what had been a peaceful demonstration against redevelopment of the park, which would remove a considerable chunk of rare green space in the sprawling city.

The clashes have grown since, with the square becoming symbolic of greater dissatisfaction with Erdogan’s government.

Protests that started as an outcry against a local development project in Taksim Square have snowballed into widespread anger against what critics say is the government's increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda.

The prime minister has recently imposed restrictions on the sale of alcohol, altered social security, separated children by sex in primary and secondary schools and emphasized religious holidays over national ones.

Erdogan was dismissive of the protesters in a Tuesday meeting with his Justice and Development (AKP) party, calling them traitors and vandals. He said hotels around Taksim were empty and the shops were suffering losses, "except those selling beer."

Initial clashes grew after Erdogan returned from a trip abroad and ordered an immediate end to the protests. His tone toward them has been dismissive, and he has called them them looters who are “arm in arm with terrorists.”

Protests have spread to other cities as Erdogan has remained defiant and police have cracked down.