Demonstrators retreated from an Istanbul protest square today after a night of running battles with riot police as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan clamped down on mass demos against his Islamic-rooted government.
By late afternoon, hundreds of officers armed with riot shields and backed by water cannon trucks were clustered along the eastern side of the square. Just a stone's throw away, demonstrators huddled up in Gezi Park but there were no fresh confrontations.
Office workers, tourists and curious passers-by milled around the square in a relaxed mood, some posing for pictures with smiling police, after a large clean-up operation cleared the site of stray tear gas canisters, anti-Erdogan banners and makeshift barricades.
The premier, meanwhile, was meeting with several protest leaders but many demonstrators said yesterday's unexpected crackdown on Taksim Square, which had seen no police presence since June 1, had made them lose faith in any dialogue.
"We don't accept it," said Gezi Park protester Anessa, a 29-year-old photographer, complaining that the government had cherry-picked the groups invited to the meeting.
The nationwide unrest first erupted after police cracked down heavily on May 31 on a campaign to save Gezi Park from redevelopment, spiralling into mass displays of anger against Erdogan.
Four people, including a policeman, have died in the unrest and nearly 5,000 demonstrators have been injured, tarnishing Turkey's image as a model of Islamic democracy.
Erdogan, seen as increasingly authoritarian, has taken a tough line on the demonstrators, many of whom are young and middle-class. Yesterday, he warned his patience had run out.
While expectations were low for a quick resolution to the conflict, President Abdullah Gul today said Erdogan's meeting with demonstrators was a sign of the country's "democratic maturity".
"People take to the streets here like in the most developed countries in Europe," he said, adding that he was confident Turkey would "overcome the trouble".
Police did not intervene in Gezi Park overnight, where volunteers offered first aid to victims of the clashes, though many protesters abandoned their tents after clouds of acrid smoke drifted in from Taksim.
