Thousands Ignore Turkish PM's Call to End Protests

Thousands of Turks on Saturday prepped for anti-government demonstrations that are set to last all weekend, Reuters reported. The demonstrations are taking place despite Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's demand for an end to the worst political turmoil of his decade in power. In Taksim Square, located in central Istanbul, activists constructed a makeshift protest camp, sleeping in tents and buses. Police have fired teargas at protestors nightly for the past week in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities across the country, causing three deaths and some 4,000 injuries. The protests originally started as a campaign against the redevelopment of Gezi Park in a corner of Taksim Square and morphed into an unprecedented display of public anger over the perceived authoritarianism of Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party.

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