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Turkey protests

Summary

3 June 2013

Turkish protesters have clashed with police in Istanbul overnight, in some of the worst violence since protests started on Friday.

Reporter:

James Reynolds

Report

The demonstrations overnight in Istanbul were the most dramatic so far. Protesters in the Dolmabahce neighbourhoods built barricades and tried to reach the prime minister's office.

Witnesses say they got hold of a digger and drove it at police lines. Demonstrators also tried to march on the prime minister's office in the capital Ankara. They were met by the police who fired tear gas and water cannon.

The government has reacted angrily to the continuing protests. The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has dismissed accusations that he acts in an authoritarian manner.

Erdogan has insisted that a controversial plan to redevelop Gezi Park in Istanbul, the issue which sparked the initial protests on Friday, will still go ahead.