(ISTANBUL) — Turkish riot police fired tear gas and water cannon on Sunday at still defiant demonstrators after authorities evicted activists from an Istanbul park, maintaining their hard line against attempts to rekindle protests that have shaken the country. Police in uniform and plainclothes sealed off Istanbul’s central Taksim Square and adjacent Gezi Park, where crews worked through the night to clear away all traces of a sit-in that started more than two weeks ago and became the focus of the strongest challenge to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his 10 years in office. Istanbul’s governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu said the square was off-limits to the public for the time being, and nobody would be allowed to gather. A spokesman for the protesters vowed the group would retake Gezi Park. (MORE: An Uneasy Calm in Istanbul as Protests Continue at Taksim Square) “We will win Taksim Square again and we will win Taksim Gezi Park again,” Alican Elagoz said. A call went out for another demonstration in Taksim Square for Sunday afternoon, but the area was within a tight police cordon, with passers-by subjected to identity checks and bag searches. Erdogan, who has repeatedly insisted that the protests were part of a nebulous plot by bankers and foreign media to destabilize Turkey, was to deliver a speech at a political rally in an area of Istanbul about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the square. A similar speech in Ankara on Saturday before the raid was attended by tens of thousands of supporters, who cheered him as he warned protesters that security forces “know how to clear” the area. The protests began as an environmental sit-in to prevent a development project at Gezi Park, but anger over a violent crackdown there quickly spread to dozens of cities and spiraled into a broader expression of discontent with what many say is Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian decision-making. He vehemently denies the charge, pointing to the strong support base that helped him win third consecutive term with 50 percent of the vote in 2011.
