Anti-government protests spread across Turkey

Jacob Resneck and Clare Morgana Gillis | Special for USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Raw video: Wreckage litters Taksim Square Two days of anti-government rioting left damage in Istanbul and Ankara. Powered by NewsLook.com

Spontaneous demonstrations rocked Istanbul%2C Ankara and Izmir over the weekend

Interior Minister Muammer Guler said Saturday that more than 900 people were detained

Crowds chanted %22Tayyip resign%21%22 while marching in Istanbul on Sunday

ISTANBUL — Thousands of anti-government protesters continued demonstrations Sunday in Istanbul and several major cities across Turkey, speaking against rising authoritarianism and calling for the government to resign after police used violence against demonstrators marching against plans to demolish a local park.

Demonstrators say they are alarmed with the rising power of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party has won plaudits for its democratic and economic reforms but has recently become more restrictive on social issues.

A bill creating far-reaching restrictions on alcohol was hastily passed last month, and Erdogan has also publicly stated women should have at least three children.

That's alarmed secular Turks such as Filiz Polat who, along with more than 100,000 demonstrators, have defied the prime minister and marched on the city center since last week.

"The government interferes with what we need to eat, what we need to drink, how we should sleep with our partner, how many kids that we should have," Polat said. "This is getting beyond reasonable."

Spontaneous demonstrations rocked Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir over the weekend with clashes between protesters and police that Amnesty International said resulted in at least two deaths and more than 1,000 injured.

Interior Minister Muammer Guler announced on Turkish state TV on Saturday that 939 people in 90 separate protests across Turkey had been arrested in connection with the demonstrations, but some of them have already been released.

Heavy rains early Sunday appeared to dampen spirits but by afternoon, crowds paraded up Istiklal Avenue — a major pedestrian shopping street that's been the scene of vandalism and clashes — chanting "Tayyip resign!" as throngs of shoppers returned to the battered city center. Meanwhile, groups of protesters arrived with trash bags to help clean up litter and debris from the demonstrations.

Outside Erdogan's office in the upscale district of Besiktas, the number of protesters swelled by Sunday evening, and cars honked non-stop down the main road that links Taksim square with the district. By nightfall, the crowd had grown to 10,000 to 20,000 people, with more approaching in both directions along the main street. Nearly 1,000 police officers blocked off side streets in the area and attempted to disperse protesters with tear gas and water cannons.

Oya Ozdemir, a 35-year-old real estate appraiser, was on her way home to Besiktas when she was forced to duck into a cafe because of the gas.

"Of course Erdogan must resign," she said, her eyes red from the gas. "There will be elections, but I don't trust the elections."

Ozdemir said she is confident the Turkish people are united behind a common goal of ousting Erdogan, but she is concerned for the future of the protest movement, saying "We cannot become too radical."

Erdogan has so far been unrepentant in face of the protests. On Sunday, the prime minister addressed a group representing migrants from the Balkans saying, "If they call someone who has served the people a 'dictator,' I have nothing to say. My only concern has been to serve my country."

In another speech delivered an hour later, Erdogan said: "I am not the master of the people. Dictatorship does not run in my blood or in my character. I am the servant of the people."

On Saturday, he delivered an ominous warning to opposition leaders saying he could call on his own supporters to take to the streets.

"If you use provocative words, our people will never forgive you," Erdogan said. "If you gather 100,000 people, I can gather a million."

The mass movement began Friday morning when police forcibly evicted a peaceful sit-in against a redevelopment project that would replace leafy Gezi Park next to Taksim Square with an Ottoman era-themed shopping mall. Reacting to images of police using tear gas against the peaceful group, crowds swelled to tens of thousands with groups in other cities taking to the streets in solidarity to confront riot police armed with tear gas and water cannons.

Erdogan has also said that a mosque would be built at the square, stirring more controversy. The mosque plans have long been contentious because it would further shrink the green spaces in Istanbul's city center. Some argue that there are already plenty of mosques around Taksim.

"I am not going to seek the permission of the (the opposition) or a handful of plunderers," Erdogan said Sunday.

Erdogan and his party allies have pledged to investigate claims of excessive force that drew a rebuke from the United States and European Union.

"We are concerned about the number of people who were injured when police dispersed protesters in Istanbul's Gezi Park," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Saturday. "We believe that Turkey's long-term stability, security and prosperity is best guaranteed by upholding the fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and association, which is what it seems these individuals were doing."

After early Saturday morning clashes throughout the city center, riot police withdrew from Istanbul's central Taksim Square, allowing more than 100,000 to peacefully demonstrate throughout the afternoon.

It was a watershed moment with leftists, rightists, nationalists, minorities and even rival football fans marching and singing alongside as the crowds swelled on Taksim Square.

One group of young men raised beer cans chanting "Cheers, Tayyip!" — referring to the recent alcohol law — which drew giggles from three middle-aged women in Islamic headscarves.

Celebrating Saturday in Gezi Park — still slated for demolition — Turhan Duru said most Turks are law-abiding citizens but every society has a collective breaking point and that the government had touched a nerve.

"We have respect for the government and even the police," he said. "But we had to react."

The mass euphoria that's spread across Turkey is seen as a milestone in the decade-long rule of Erdogan, who has capitalized on a disorganized and divided opposition to consolidate power.

But veteran journalist and columnist Cengiz Candar says the weekend's events prove Turkish society is pushing back against the prime minister's heavy-handed rule and says the government has been put on notice.

"In his more than 10 years of rule of getting more and more authoritarian, he's been publicly defeated for the first time," Candar said. "Despite whatever he says in defiance or however unrepentant he may seem, he is a very pragmatic person and he's picked up several lessons over what has happened."

Contributing: The Associated Press