Summary Thousands of anti-government protesters continued demonstrations in major cities across Turkey.
ISTANBUL (Agencies) - 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.
