Toronto Star "Mass protests in Istanbul’s Taksim Square enter second day" Sat Jun 01 2013

Thousands flooded Istanbul’s main square as protests continue against Prime Minister Erdogan. Police fired tear gas and water cannons at demonstrators.

ISTANBUL—In a scene reminiscent of the Arab Spring, thousands of people flooded Istanbul’s main square on Saturday after a crackdown turned city streets into a battlefield clouded by tear gas.

Though he offered some concessions to demonstrators, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan remained largely defiant in the face of the biggest popular challenge to his power in a decade in office, insisting the protests are undemocratic and illegitimate.

Public anger has flared among urban and secular Turks after police violently broke up an anti-development sit-in in the landmark Taksim Square. Protests spread to dozens of other cities as demonstrators denounced what they see as Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian style.

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