An uneasy calm was present throughout the day in the square and in Gezi Park — where the protests began nearly two weeks ago over the government’s proposed redevelopment of the area.

Demonstrators in the park itself were stockpiling face masks and goggles to protect against tear gas, and rebuilding barricades that had been destroyed by police overnight. A few hundred police were gathered in groups around the square with mobile water canons standing nearby.

Around 1,000 people were injured, according to doctors, as police moved in to clear the square on Tuesday afternoon, firing volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets. The clashes continued into the early hours of the morning, both in the park and in the side streets surrounding the square, as a small number of protesters responding with fireworks.

Amnesty International harshly criticised the use of excessive violence by police overnight, and blamed the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for inciting protesters.

“Never has there been a time when police violence was this widespread and this sustained. It is unprecedented,” Andrew Gardner, the group’s Turkey researcher, told The Independent.

“Police have been using tear gas as a punitive measure, rather than for crowd dispersal as it is intended. There have been cases where police are firing directly at protesters, causing serious head injuries. They are also firing tear gas into buildings, which can be very dangerous.”

He added: “The violence we saw [on Tuesday] was a direct result of inflammatory statements made by him.”

The protests that have been taking place in Istanbul and other cities across Turkey started as a small demonstration against plans to build an Ottoman style shopping centre in Taksim Square, but it has grown into a wider movement uniting  those opposed to what they perceive as the authoritarian rule of Mr Erdogan, who had earlier predicted that the protests would end within 24 hours.

“I have given orders to the interior minister,” Mr Erdogan reportedly said yesterday afternoon after a meeting with Turkey’s shopkeepers’ union. “This will be over in 24 hours,” he said, adding that no young protesters would should be harmed.

Many of the protesters also share a concern that Mr Erdogan is imposing an Islamist agenda on a country that has traditionally been secular — although most of the population is Muslim.

In one of few concilatory moves made by Mr Erdogan since the protests began, the prime minister was due to meet with representatives of group’s opposed to Gezi Park’s redevelopment. But members of the Taksim Solidarity campaign group who spoke to The Independent said the 11-person delegation chosen to meet Mr Erdogan was not representative of the protesters.

Taking a softer tone than Mr Erdogan, meanwhile, Turkey’s president Abdullah Gul appeared to concede that it was time for the government to engage with its critics, but also condemned violent protesters.

“If people have objections… then to engage in a dialogue with these people, to hear out what they say is no doubt our duty,” Gul told reporters, according to Reuters. “Those who employ violence are something different and we have to distinguish them… We must not give violence a chance… This would not be allowed in New York, this would not be allowed in Berlin.”

Even as Mr Erdogan has begun to show signs that he is searching for a solution to the ongoing demonstrations, the number of protesters has been buoyed by people angry at the violent response by police.

In a makeshift hospital in the north corner of the park this afternoon, doctors reported seeing wounds caused by rubber and plastic bullets, head injuries as a result of tear gas canisters being fired directly at protesters, and severe breathing difficulties caused by the gas itself.

The first aid centre is staffed by around 15 volunteer doctors, as well as some medical students and volunteers. Among them are brain surgeons, GPs and orthopedics, most of whom said they were apolitical.

The small corner of Gezi Park was a hive of activity as the volunteers prepared the space to receive injured protesters they anticipated would be arriving shortly.

One doctor, who refused to give her name for fear of reprisals, claimed many volunteer medical staff had been detained at their homes for treating wounded protesters.

“We think police have been coming to the park wearing civilian clothes to take pictures of the doctors,” said the doctor, who works as a GP in Istanbul.

“We are scared to leave the park on our own now. The police are trying to intimidate us.”

In Ankara and Istanbul, thousands of lawyers railed against what they described as the rough treatment of their colleagues, dozens of whom were briefly detained by police in Istanbul on Tuesday.

Sema Aksoy, the deputy head of the Ankara lawyer’s association, said the lawyers were handcuffed and pulled over the ground.

“Lawyers can’t be dragged on the ground!” the demonstrating lawyers shouted as they marched out of an Istanbul courthouse.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/violence-of-security-forces-in-taksim-square-unprecedented-says-amnesty-international-8654788.html#