Calm on Istanbul streets after days of unrest

PanARMENIAN.Net - Shopkeepers and municipal workers began cleaning the streets of Istanbul and Ankara on Sunday, June 2 after the fiercest anti-government demonstrations in years, Reuters reporetd.

Pockets of die-hard demonstrators lit bonfires and scuffled with police overnight but the streets were much quieter after two days of clashes in which almost a thousand people were arrested and hundreds were injured.

The unrest was triggered by protests against government plans to build a replica Ottoman-era barracks to house shops or apartments in Taksim, long a venue for political demonstrations.

But it has widened into a broader show of defiance against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and hisIslamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

On Sunday rain appeared to keep the crowds away from Istanbul's central Taksim Square, where the protests originated, but did not dampen the spirit of a small group of protesters who remained huddled around a bonfire.

There were more than 90 separate demonstrations around the country on Friday and Saturday, officials said. More than 1,000 people have been injured in Istanbul and several hundred more in Ankara, according to medics.

The ferocity of the police response has shocked Turks, as well as tourists caught up in the unrest in one of the world's most visited destinations. It has drawn rebukes from the United States, European Union and international rights groups.