Turkey protests: Riot police storm Taksim Square

Turkish riot police have moved into Istanbul's Taksim Square, which has been occupied by anti-government protesters for close to two weeks.

Officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets, leading many protesters to flee the square into adjoining Gezi Park. Some activists hurled fireworks, fire bombs and stones at police.
The unrest began after a crackdown on a protest over Gezi Park's redevelopment.
The Turkish prime minister said the move was hijacked to cause vandalism.

The original protests have widened, with demonstrators accusing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government of becoming increasingly authoritarian and trying to impose conservative Islamic values on a secular state.

Mr Erdogan defended the police intervention on Tuesday.
In a speech in parliament that was frequently interrupted by applause, he asked: "What did the protesters expect? That we would kneel down before them?"
Backed by armoured vehicles and water cannon, officers wearing helmets and carrying shields gathered around the square early on Tuesday before moving past barricades erected by protesters.
They removed protesters' banners which had been hung from a building overlooking the square, replacing them with the national flag and a portrait of the father of the Turkish state, Kemal Ataturk.
Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu said the police had no intention of breaking up the protest in Gezi Park.
"Our aim is to remove the signs and pictures on Ataturk statue and the Ataturk Cultural Centre. We have no other aim," he wrote on Twitter. "Gezi Park and Taksim will not be touched."
A similar message was broadcast by police via loudspeaker, but protesters in the square said they did not believe this.