that's been a consistent theme here. we've seen fireworks going. there are some elements of celebration going you might say. that's been fired up. there were some quite ingeniusly engineered devices. >> firing water and perhaps trying to suppress. reconverging back towards taksim square. >> anything walsh. thanks for joining us. for our viewers in the united states and else where in the world, we are continuing to cover dramatic events unfolding in taksim square in istanbul, turkey, a country going through

a crisis as antigovernment protesters continue to demand that their government be accountable. these protesters saying that their prime minister is dealing with it in a way that is authoritarian. water cannon. the gas masks because of the large amount of tear gas that has been fired into the crowds. what's going on where you are right now, arwa. >> reporter: we can see them right behind me as well. now the air is quite thick with tear gas. we are standing in gezzy park. the demonstrators who live here are by and large peaceful, but right now the situation has

escalated so quickly and so dramatically. a couple of the tear gas canisters landed inside the park. they were thrown back out. you can see people are clearing. people that don't have gas masks trying to clear to get away from the sheer intensity of what is being fired in each direction. we can hear people talking around us. others are trying to take shelter like one man behind a tree. one man is running around with this bottle of liquid solution. you've been here since the very beginning? >> yes. >> did you think that the government would actually attack the park, tear gas the park the way it did? >> yes. >> reporter: when did it start? >> today in the morning, they arrive here with 3,000 cops and

then they go to the perimeter and then they attacked us. we were standing here and they have -- they attacked us. they go straight into the tunnel. >> reporter: they talked to you today for the first time at the park? >> no. no. no. no. today is it. >> reporter: in the park? in the park? they have promised that they would not attack. >> they would not attack the park and then they came to this area and they just tear gas. >> reporter: do you want to see the government do? how does this all end? >> stop attacks. we are fighting for peace.

they start to attack us with the cops. >> reporter: thank you very much. you can see people are struggling to talk because of the intensity of the gas here. but in short, the sentiment that we've been hearing quite a bit. this began as a small demonstration to try to save this park and it's escalated into so much more. people who are living here are telling us that the government can stop all of this if it reverses its decision. it's difficult to see how any further negotiation is going to take place. negotiations that were supposed

to be taking place tomorrow. very difficult to see how they're going to actually happen in this environment. we were talking to one of the individuals who has actually been trying to negotiate with the government. he said that as long as these tactics are being used, those negotiations will just be a farce. >> arwa, we'll get back to you in a moment. we're having audio issues. right next to taksim square. this all started as a protest to turn a park into a shopping center and it has turned into this. live, dramatic scenes unfolding before our eyes coming to us from istanbul, a major city in turkey. one of the most important countries in that part of the world. tear gas fired, water cannons, protesters going in and out of the park. anything pay t nick paton walsh is there. what are those red flares? is that riot police or something demonstrators are using?

>> reporter: i think we're seeing what are a couple of fires in the central square. we're not sure of the origin. they're trying to be extinguished by a water cannon. just a few moments ago, arwa, there was a dramatic atmosphere. protesters found every piece of corrugated iron. i'll let you see the fireworks going off behind me now. it's unclear if they're celebratory or they're being fired at the place as part of the protests, make shift arsenal of weapons. what we have is a whole square united and banging whatever corrugated iron it could find. this huge drum ringing out which eventually subsided. people moving in force back towards the center of the square. the occasional crack of tear gas now lit up sometimes by the flashing lights and ambulances moving around the square. i should point out, we don't

know how many people have been injured during this. what i've been seeing in the past ten days, people have succumb to the severe effects of the tear gas. there will be concerns about the health of these protests. many of them -- one of these fires is in fact one of the mobile phone company trucks that seemed to be sent into the square to boost the cell phone signal. a controversial move. for them to use social media, post pictures. let's listen to the crowd.

>> reporter: they've yet to find a singular leader. much of this is unfocused, popular anger. some of it at a decade old administration. democratically elected nonetheless. a lot of it fueled by police tactics. you've seen in the past rumbling. right now there are a couple of thousand people gathering. police the tear gas, it's dark. a lot of the barricades. people will be unfamiliar with the building site. they're standing around. there are two to three places

where the concrete dropped off by 20 to 30 feet. people should be concerned with their well-being. it's not a safe place to be at the best of times, particularly not in the pitch black of night. but these fires continuing to burn. ambulances in the background and riot police far from the occasional armored truck we're seeing moving back into the corner of this square. >> all right. and the prime minister has said today even, those that want to continue with the incidents, i say it's over. we won't show anymore tolerance. is he making good on that promise, nick? >> he has always threatened that his patience is wearing thin. we saw that this morning. the question really is what's the plan? they can do this all night. they can continue. you have seen other protests, i'm sure yourself. the police have a plan, they capture territory, they arrest people, they hold it. this is a strange routine where protesters are pushed back by

these nonlethal weapons like tear gas, water cannons and then surge back again when police withdraw. so we're seeing people run away now again scattering. it's not quite clear why we haven't heard the familiar crack of tear gas again. they're moving. there we are. that is i think a stun grenade. we've heard these loud blasts across the square all day. i'm seeing one armored water cannon truck. that could be the reason for the retreat by many. there's another one. so much of the danger of people in these situations, of course that fear of mass panic. people run in an opposite direction for unknown reasons. here's the banging again. that thumping noise that you're

hearing, protesters finding whatever pieces of corrugated iron they can, kicking it, punching it, trying to unify by the noise they can make by the lack of direct unified political message. it's ringing out across the square now where police seem to be moving in occasionally firing water cannons at them. fireworks again. those fireworks clearly being fired at the police armored vehicles there. i think it's fair to say not by accident. that's causing them to retreat. and now that thumping subsided in the square and, again, that question, where does this go sneks what is the police strategy for restoring order

here? that is obviously what most people in istanbul hope, they're resolving themselves in arm, going back to normal life. here's the banging again, that thumping noise. >> nick, stand by for a moment. i want to remind our viewers in the united states and around the world here what they're seeing. these are live, dramatic pictures of dramatic scenes in taksim square. if you've been to istanbul and taksim square, you'll see how extraordinary, unusual, perhaps historic these scenes are. you'll see protesters and rioters clash in a head-on confrontation. it's extraordinary because you have police launching these tear gas canisters and water cannons. you have protesters moving in and out of the square. just a few seconds ago setting off fireworks which makes the scene even more surreal. fireworks over taksim square as

these clashes continue. i'm going to go to arwa damon. she's at gezzy park. that's where this all started. it was a smaller protest against the plans to modify the park. arwa is wearing a gas mask for obvious reasons. arwa, what are you seeing where you are right now? >> reporter: basically this park is right off of tksim this is tt exists in this area between these demonstrators and the riot police. we're positioned behind a burnt out and spray painted bunch right there. there's an intense bombardment of tear gas that they've been pushed temporarily back from this position and you can see some of them moving back up,

continuing to launch rocks at the riot police. you can see the tear gas billowing right in front of those various positions. people were here in the park trying to stay out of the violence that is taking place in taksim square. this really is right behind me. but right now they are saying that the government has broken its pledge when it said that it would not actually fire into this park itself. but we're seeing it ever since it was a peaceful demonstration inside taksim square. tear gas is being fired. we've been seeing people running around, trying to help one another. people carrying structures, trying to evacuate the wounded. you can see the tear gas and see it on the outskirts.

it's right there, right now. people beginning to pull back from the very front part of the park itself. of course the tents are still all over the place as well. and then in the side streets people also continuing to reposition themselves behind that, pulling to one another, trying to organize themselves. you're hearing chance from the other side of the park right now. all of this happening in a fairly small but very critical part of the capitol istanbul. >> arwa damon, thank you very much. nick paton walsh, i heard some small explosions there. what was that? >> reporter: we believe that was accompanying the specific explosion to get fireworks to go with that. just now, again, pushing people back down the side streets. we now have some substantial blazes, one barricade on fire

down on one of the side rose getting off the square. two fires in the central square itself. protesters continuing to vent their anger by pounding whatever piece of corrugated metal they can find down there in the square below me. there's a sense of disarray. almost a sense of routine, in fact, to see how some of these protesters are milling around. they've been pushed back by police with tear gas and surge forward repeatedly in the past hour now. as you were saying earlier, hala, what is the strategy from the police? are they simply trying to remind police of their ability to push them back or are they trying to hold this vital part of istanbul. we are hearing the crack again of what sounds like tear gas near where we are. the protesters have been using

fireworks, loud blasts. just a separate point about what these scenes do to the image of turkey. it's been an economic powerhouse over a decade thriving in many ways on an increasing democratic reputation. the protesters consider their prime minister, the man who surely must have ordered this move to be increasingly authoritarian, to not care about their minority opinion. he has a democratic mandate at 50%. many of the people down here obviously want the police tactics to come out on the street. many we have spoken to feel disenfranchised. the increasingly conservative viewpoints in society by the prime minister doesn't match the secular lifestyles. again, they are surging back towards the center of the square. it is remarkable to see the resilience of them in the face of water cannons, the danger the

fire cannons pose, the flash bangs. it is remarkable to see them pushing back in yet again. we could be in potentially for a long night. you have to ask yourself what is happening elsewhere in istanbul, what is happening in the other cities around turkey at this point. these kind of scenes being the catalyst for protest across turkey for the past 12 days. we've seen how riot police were fairly heavy handed in the protests in the last seven days. now these fires continue to burn. the riot police, armored cars, the water cannons, i think some of them are in evidence on the square. we haven't seen the large columns of riot police all over this particular area for the past hour or two hours or so until they suddenly withdrew to one particular corner. the question is, of course, how many injured protesters are we talking about? who's been affected by the tear gas?

if anybody has been injured as they tried to flee this particular area. we've seen ambulances but we don't know what the impact on protesters has been. here's some more tear gas. >> what is on fire there in the center of the square exactly? it looks like a vehicle. >> reporter: people fleeing now. en masse. it is panic. the armored water cannons moving forward. tear gas fired ahead of them. this is a very dangerous situation because there are people in the dark surrounded by smoke running for their own safety. just let you hear this noise.

so many of the chance we've heard calling for the resignation of the prime minister. now the sticks are banging oncor ru gated iron. unity in the noise they make. still even though the armored water cannons move forward, police unable to finally disperse this crowd. they keep surging back. this is, of course, precisely a company that prides itself on tourism, that's been stable. that's seen its stock market take a pounding in the past week or so, these are exactly the images people do not want to be broadcast for the sake of the turkish economy. we were hoping tomorrow, many protesters hoping, many observers hoping that perhaps the prime minister may sit down with the fractured leadership of

this particular protest and begin to talk about a resolution, but i don't quite see given the scenes of the past if you hours how such talk on the table can lead anywhere fruitful. surely there are increasingly angry people. the gang, it is remarkable to see. they are pushed back, again, surging back towards the center of the square. just hear that. cracking noise we've just heard. that sea of sounds like yet more tear gas. you were asking me what was the fire in the center of the square? i understand from my colleague, alex plat, the cameraman, who has a better view, it seems to be one. mobile phone trucks that have been moved in by the phone companies to boost controversially signals here for some of the protesters to make it easier for them to post pictures, use social media. one of them appears to be on fire. another larger fire actually

being -- having things thrown onto it to keep it going. that is a barricade the protesters have affected. that's what you're seeing on the reuters images right now. again, that remarkable scene of when they're pushed back by tear gas, the protesters taking a while for the wind to move away and moving back in. you have to ask, what is the authority plan here to bring it to an end. >> are they simply going in and out of the square or are they responding in kind with molotov cocktails and other things? what is their behavior right now? >> reporter: it's hard to see in this kind of low light. i have not seen that many people throwing rocks. i've seen it throughout the day, molotov cocktails, rocks being thrown. we have seen it being thrown at armored police vehicles. it's hard to tell if the crowd is surging back attacking the police. regardless, they're pushing forward no matter how much tear gas is thrown their way.

>> nick paton walsh is in our bureau. we'll get back to arwa damon. she's in gazey park. this is right next to the park. istanbul, just to recap for the viewers in the united states and viewers watching us all around the world, we are watching live these dramatic scenes unfold in istanbul really highlighting a divide in turkey between the government of the prime minister, a man who's been in power since 2003. he inherits an economy in tatters. he's perceived as being too authoritarian. he's trying to get a certain political islam on a country that prides itself in many cases on its secular tradition, modern turkey. you're seeing there a fire raging in the center of taksim

square in istanbul. a very unusual scene. riot police are clashing with protesters. the protesters who have been, in some cases, there in that square in the neighboring park for more than a week now. they have been saying for several days that they want the government to acknowledge that it is overplaying its hand. however, the prime minister hs taken on a very hard line. he said today that his patience is not limitless, that it is over, that these demonstrations are illegal. over the past several days we've seen protests in other parts of the country. that being said, the prime minister is not at all unpopular. he won the last election. his party has a majority in parliament so he has the support of many people in the country.

on the left-hand side of your screen you're seeing the plumes of smoke there hanging over taksim square of tear gas. arwa damon there who's having to wear a gas mask because of how much tear gas has been fired into the square is joining me live with more on what she's seeing. are you still in gazey park there, arwa? >> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. can you come to me now please? okay. we're right now in the very front of the park. you can see people trying to help us out because of the tear gas. the entire front part of the park has been cleared out because of the intensity of what was just fired in. this, again, is not what people here were expecting after their government promised them that they would be allowed to stay in this position.

along the side streets on either side of this park the streets actually go straight to taksim square. taksim square is straight up in that direction. tear gas being fired in. people moving up the streets throwing rocks. we hear them clanking, chanting, trying to move forward and then they are continuously being driven back. but a lot of the people who are living here can't stop here in taksim square say that they are peaceful demonstrators. all they want to do is save the trees. now they're in a situation where they're fighting against an authoritarian government. people are incredibly angry, infuriated how the government has been handling all of this. it's become a bit of a routine. tear gas is fired in, people clear out and then they move right back in. nothing at this stage, hala, is going to be deterring them. >> what was that man spraying into your eyes, arwa?

>> reporter: it's like this pepper minty thing. i don't know exactly what it is or what they put into it, but it really helps with the burn in the eyes. there's a number of them that just circulate around here. the minute tear gas is fired they'll walk up to people who seem like they're in pain and struggling with it and they'll just spray it directly at them. they also earlier in the day when riot police tried to enter into thequare, they were driven back by the demonstrators, they had set up a blanket that they had soaked in water for people to hide under when the tear gas came in because they said after the government's behavior this morning they were fully expecting that there would be some other sort of an attack that would take place later in the day. what i think took us all by surprise to a certain degree though is that after the riot police cleared out of taksim square, we saw that massive

demonstration taking place there, a lot of people said it seemed as if they would not employ these same tactics, at least not tonight. now we've seen that not to be the case. just to remind our viewers, we were down in taksim square when that all began. we were right next to what seemed to be some sort of an altercation between demonstrators, a group of riot police. demonstrators were calling for a calm. this situation escalated literally within seconds with volleys of tear gas, water cannons, and now we have the situation as it is around now. on that loud speaker right now someone is saying to people, slow down. slow down. please don't panic. >> is the situation escalating now? i mean, are protesters also responding with molotov cocktails and things like that or not? is it a standoff? >> reporter: well, inside the

park we have not seen any molotov cocktails being thrown tonight. we have seen some people throwing rocks. you can hear that pounding sound coming and people in rhythm with it. that's coming from the side street. a lot of those people are going up throwing rocks at the riot police and are absolute alley doing it from the side street, not from the park itself. but i don't know if we can try to turn around and see what's happening. it's a bit dark right now. if you'll bear with us, we'll try to move down there and see what's taking place because it's quieted down a bit. we do see people continuously trying to move up back towards taksim square. there are a number of different degrees here. you have those groups that are at the square trying to front the riot police. then you have the people in the gazey park. they have moved back and forth.

they'll withdraw and move right back up. >> what happened to prompt all of this? we were talking an hour and a half ago and everything seemed pretty calm where you were. >> reporter: it did. the situation ever since these demonstrations first began, again, here in gazey park, because of a government plan to try to turn this into a shopping mall have been ebbing and flowing. it's been very difficult to determine exactly what the government's strategy is. a lot of the anger initially arose because of the heavy handed tactics used by the riot police. that escalated throughout the day today. we've been seeing clashes taking place, intermittent periods of calm and then in the evening it seemed as if the riot police were going to allow the demonstrators to not just occupy

gazey park, they said they would not enter the park itself, but to actually move into taksim square. there was a call that went out on twitter calling for demonstrators to converge on taksim square itself at 7:00 p.m. there were thousands if not tens of thousands of people there. and then in one corner of taksim square, a scuffle broke out. that led to all of this. an incredibly volatile situation here. >> arwa damon, stand by. she has her gas mask on her head to use it and it seems like she's going to be needing it in the coming house in gazey park. dramatic scenes unfolding live coming to us from istanbul. for our viewers in the united states, this is the center of istanbul. these things do not happen in istanbul normally. we are entering our second week of dramatic and some might say even perhaps historic anti-government protests. christiana amanpour joins us

from new york with more analysis on what's happening in turkey. christiana, the prime minister said he would sit down and talk with protesters and then this happened. something that seemed quite sudden in taksim. >> indeed. it did start overnight turkish time. we do understand that the prime minister has said that he wants to meet with some of the protesters. it looks like he wants to meet with those who are environmentally concerned. he's given speeches today in which he clearly indicated that his patience is running out, that he said this is the end. this demonstration has to stop. we won't let it go on any longer. he did also say that he believed that there were certain elements, as he put it, who were bent on damaging turkey's economy, ruining turkey's image. quite a lot of sort of conspiracy theories always tend

to arise at this time and in these situations by leaders who are taken by surprise by the ferocity of the demonstrations against them and he is quite publicly blaming media, international media, conspiracies and others. on the other hand, he has said that what started as an environmental protest has been sort of hijacked and taken out of control. i want to read you something that we got from one of the members of the turkish government on the government side about why these police have gone into the square right now. let me read you what a government official has send to us. he basically said this is a major public square, taksim. all of us who have been there know that taksim square is a vital park of istanbul. it is not a tiny part of the town referring to zuccotti park referring to manhattan that was the genesis for the occupy wall street movement that began.

taksim has been under demonstration for two weeks. he said despite the attacks from the protesters with molotov cocktails, stones and fireworks. he's putting out the government point of view. what we can see is that this is unfolding in a sort of a standoff. it's not as violent as we've seen in some other situations that have been like this perhaps in other parts of that region. there is a sort of a cat and mouse game going on is that we've been able to see. arwa and nick paton walsh have been heroically broadcasting this to us over the past hour or so. certainly the prime minister, who has ironically been responsible for so much good in turkey over the 11 or so years he has been in office, major democratic reforms. indeed, even reining in the police from rather unfettered

access they used to have. reforming e ining judicial ente and the military from politics. he has arrived at the situation where he's been in power for this amount of time and has shown this in the initial moments of the demonstration that he was untiebl listen. this is what seems to be playing out right now. >> right. you, of course, remind our viewers of so much good that the prime minister has achieved. economically turkey is doing very, very well especially in an economic environment that there has been so much recession and depression. there again, you have the situation where he's blamed for being authoritarian, where journalists are jailed in turkey. there's the impression that he wants to impose in a secular country a brand of islam that his opponents fear so much.

>> this has been a great issue of debate amongst many, many people. the turkish government has said over and over again that it is not an islamic government as you might find in iran. we can see that. we know that. that it has no plans to make turkey into an islamic republic in the way that you see in places like iran and elsewhere. certainly many in the west have been concerned as to whether turkey is more in the western camp or in the eastern camp these days. the united states, president obama, members of the european allies who have turkey as a nato ally and as a very strong, reliable ally believe that it is much more in the western camp. so i think that's very important. recently what has upset the young secular urban professional classes of turkey is the potential fear because that was what was raised with this restricting of alcohol recently.

you know they've just passed that, restricting of the use of alcohol or any public spaces. not in private but in public spaces. restricting the images of alcohol and advertising, alcohol on the air waves. this is something that actually takes place also in many other western democracies. you can't always see alcohol on the television or on billboards but people are concerned because amongst some members of turkey there is a fear about that. i think what's happened is that people believe that he's just getting too authoritarian to listen to them. i listened to him many months ago, in september, in fact, and i asked him about these complaints and he said, for instance, look, i believe in democracy. i have shown that i believe in democracy. he refused to accept that he was even slightly developing an authoritarian streak. when i asked him about journalists, i happen to be a member of the committee to protect journalists, it's come

out with a major report showing that turkey is one of the world's largest jailers of journalists. and this is, you know, something that the people of turkey, certain classes, as i say, feel is stifling. this, amongst other things. as you've reported and we've been reporting, there is a huge swath of the country which is very supportive of prime minister. what's you're seeing is a first major test of his authority. don't forget, he was out of the country for a considerable period of time at a conference in morocco when this all started. >> all right. christiana, we'll talk in just a moment. i want to go back to nick paton walsh. apparently things are heating up in the square. what can you see from your vantage points, snik. >> reporter: forgive the strange lighting here. we're trying to dim lights to not attract attention to where

we're broadcasting from. significant elements behind me. right now volleys of tear gas fired again. forcing everybody to flee yet again. you can still hear that tear gas firing. i'll pause to give you a second. >> reporter: enormous volley. pushing people down the streets. we've seen this before. we've seen them rally again. this is a sustained volley from the police. once again, the question is where does this end? how do police restore order in

the center of istanbul. we can see these exchanges happening very much all night. one canister landed very close to the protesters. they've become adept at picking them up throwing them back towards the police. yeah, it's really being blown by the wind in all direction at this point. the fire still burns, four of them now, in the very center of taksim square. >> all right. nick paton walsh is still there. >> reporter: you still hear the chanting of protesters. >> just want to reset there the coverage for our viewers who are joining us in the united states because these are all live images you're seeing. this is a fire burning in the center of taksim square in istanbul. taksim square, if you were to compare it to a square in the united states, it could be times square, it could be if you're in washington, dupont circle or whatnot. so you have really this beating

heart of an important city in turkey, the largest city in turkey. the capital also saw some demonstrations. protesters saying enough is enough of this authoritarian prime minister. as we were discussing with christiana amanpour, the prime minister o world, this is a democratically elected government with aizsupport base. many of these demonstrators are not saying let's overthrow our government, they're simply saying we want a modified behavior from our leadership. we don't want this awe thorn taryn leadership. we didn't want this type of government. it seems as though when we look at this image that this part of the street has been cleared of protesters as we continue to

hear tear gas guns fired. nick, can you hear me? it seems as though the square is empty from what i'm seeing. >> reporter: that's correct. the square is significantly empty. the police have taken back up their position. i'm afraid you can't see me because we've had to extinguish theights in the bureau so as not to attract attention where we're broadcasting from at this particular time. heavy tear gas blowing into our bureau making it very hard to breathe. making it very hard to breathe. >> if you have to stop and put your gas mask on, just go ahead and do that. >> reporter: okay. yes, hal a, a lot of tear gas being blown in here. i think we're being saved by the wind. alex, tthat. i think we're being saved by the wind here. the police -- no, i'm sorry, i have to move back into the bureau. it's too intense where i'm standing.

>> go ahead and do that. if you have to put your gas mask on, we'll try understand you through the gas mask because, believe me, i have a he been in those situations. it's very unpleasant and very difficult to speak, actually. by the way, on the right-hand side of the screen we're seeing the shot where nick paton walsh was standing. he's had to retreat back into the bureau because of the tear gas and because of the fact that we can't light the position anymore in turkey. we can't make the broadcasting position noticeable who may be able to see that particular position that we used for broadcasting. nick, can you hear me? >> reporter: i don't know if you can now hear me where i'm standing sz. >> yes, i can. >> reporter: sorry about the lack of lights and the fact that i'm wearing a gas mask. we're seeing police moving towards the bureau where we're standing. they've been firing an intense round of tear gas.

they're down some side streets, particularly heavy clouds there. in fact, one protester it seems is trying to illuminate some of the advancing police with a green light. i'm not sure of the purpose of that. tear wgas so intense we had to step away from the window. it filled the whole building. tear gas so intense we've seen them flee down the side streets. the problem is that doesn't sustain control of the central square. the wind blows it away. the police are trying to maintain a presence in the central square near a monument. a stone grenade going off. the police are trying to maintain a presence at the large

mon 50u789. let you hear the sounds of what's happening in the square right now. silence filling. >> reporter: there's occasional stun grenades and silence. it seems like the protesters have moved down side streets, backed off, obviously unable to breathe m conditions like that. even if you have a gas mask, it's incredibly hard to see. still firing away. >> i was going to tell our viewers watching us around the world that some turkish tweets on twitter have told me that turkish television srnt evisn't broadcasting this. >> reporter: i didn't quite hear this.

you're saying turkish television is not broadcasting this? >> right. i'm not there in turkey. maybe you can confirm this. turkish television is not broadcasting these scenes. >> reporter: i'm seeing one channel here, what a piers to be direct pictures from where i am. i can't be 100% sure. there has been relentless criticism that in the past they did not initially show the clashes to their full extent or even at all in some ways. some channels showed nature programs instead of clashes in the square. some of these armored vehicles still moving around. tear gas still being fired and police -- it's hard to see in the dark, but police masked around the central government. i'll take my gas mask off in a bit to speak to you more clearly. is that kind of okay now?

forgive me. i may have to go back in a second. now the gas is clearing slightly. we're not seeing the surge back of protesters, partially because they're still firing tear gas down the alley ways. they've run away. throughout the day police have been here in relatively small numbers. they've been engaged in what seem to be almost futile clashes. the police would advance, they'd throw something back. i've begun to wonder what the purpose of that standoff would be. tonight as you saw earlier, they gathered, the protesters, en masse when we saw the police file off into a corner of the square. they began a peaceful rally, festive protest, and then suddenly this volley of tear gas. as they watch these pictures, what does the administration want to gain by the standoff? was this planned or has there been a failure of police tactics to actually manage to cree gain

control of this vital part of turkey's most vital part. >> nick, stand by. christiana amanpour joins me once again. i'm wondering, christiana, as we watch these scenes unfold live, dramatic images, what the western allies of turkey might be thinking, including, of course, the united states. >> well, you can imagine, hala, this is a situation of great concern because as we've been discussing, turningly particularly under prime minister erdogan has been an ally issue after issue after issue. they've been on the sidelines pressing its nose against the window trying to join the union. there are some leaders that say it's been unfairly discriminated against and side lined from joining europe. all of that to say whether it's syria, iran, any other issues, turkey has been a reliable ally, including in u.s. led military

ventures certainly over the last 10, 11 years. look, what's going on is, as we've said, what started as a peaceful protest, couple of weeks ago, then was responded to by violence by the police has sprung out of control. nobody notion how to put the brakes on, not the people in the squares and not the prime minister himself. he has lurched from condemning these protests wholesale out of hand calling them louts and riffraff today saying his patience was wearing thin, today saying that the turkish economy which he has spurred into one of the rare success stories certainly in the european area, the european market really made turkey an economic powerhouse while many of the european economies has been suffering as we all know. he now, you know, facing investor unconfidence. he's worried about the currency

dropping. how does he put an end to this in a way that avoids further violence and can actually calm this situation down? we'll see. it seems perhaps unlikely that this meeting between him and some of these protesters might continue tomorrow. maybe it will do. what we know, certainly i spoke to british former foreign secretary jack straw a while ago who himself was in turkey during these riots. he was on other business. he is one who has long been a proponent of turkey joining the e.u. he said even the opposition party admitted to him when he was there that before erdogan, these protests wouldn't have gotten off the ground. they would have been crushed instantly and instantaneously. we all remember, we all remember the heavy presence of the turkish military in politics. that is something that erdogan

has basically side lined and effectively put a stop to, but everybody worries about that. even erdogan himself in his recent speeches has sort of dartdly hinted to the last times there was this kind of uproar and there was coupes in the '60s and 80s, military coupes. there is that. there is also the question that three times elected, 11 years in power, despite his very, very solid relationships and alliances with the west, mainly amongst his people, particularly a certain young secular business modern class want to have more freedom of space, more political freedom. there is a deep sense and a deep reality that quite a lot of political dissent is stifled, political opposition to an

extent, certainly journalists have been arrested and jailed in a manner that exceeds many other countries in the world and this is what is the secondary effects of these protests which started with a simple save the treeness gezzy park. how the people and politicians will resol this have is what we have to watch. >> what one wonders, christiana, is if prime minister erdogan had acted differently earlier on, if this would be happening today. >> well, you know, that is a very good question. he was out of the country during the beginning of this and those who i've spoken to believe he was taken by surprise possibly because this kind of chal college to his authority has never happened. that surprises people who have been undisputed leaders for quite so long.

it's just like that. people who have been in power with very little opposition, very little challenge simply don't, you know, absorb this kind of challenge well. on the other hand, he and other members of his party have said from the beginning that there was a legitimate protest and there was a group which they -- in their words, to me, hijacked these protests, turned them violent and expanded the mandate of these protests. as i've heard many, many times, leaders say to me when these kinds of things happen it's an international conspiracy, it's a conspiracy. >> you blame twitter. you blame twitter, christianchr for spreading misinformation. essentially not listening to them. that was the perception and that's what got some of them so angry and so determined. >> indeed and, again, others have been saying the same thing, that this has got to this point

where nobody knows how to take a step back, how to get their backs away from the wall, get themselves out of the corners that they've painted themselves into and how to resolve this. the prime minister said this was enough, that he understood certain protesters and the mandate of those that had started the peaceful protest in the end of may but that the patience had run out and these demonstrations are over and we will not tolerate them anymore and clearly that's what we're seeing in taksim square tonight. >> christiana amanpour, thanks very much. we'll see you on amanpour later on cnn at the top of the hour. arwa damon is on the phone. arwa, are you still in the park right near taksim? what's going on? >> reporter: yeah, we still are. a while ago there was a pretty intense volley of gas that again came into here. everyone had to clear out to the

back end of the park. we were standing next to one of the medical stations they had set up. they were bringing in a number of people clearly suffering from inhailing too much tear gas. a lot of the volunteers actually asked us to leave, to not film anything in that area because they say that they are volunteering here. they don't want their identities disclosed. they are concerned the government is going to come after them. we are still seeing swarms of people still in the park. a lot of them, again, as i was saying did go to the back end of it because of the intensity of the tear gas. they have stations where people are getting liquid ready to spray into each other's eyes to try to deal with everything that's happening around them. people's tempers most certainly are flaring. they're trying to deal with the number of individuals suffering from tear gas. we're hearing people screaming

that they don't have enough medics, enough medical supply. people are trying to calm others down when they start running when that tear gas is fired. quite a stampede that can be pretty dangerous as you can imagine, hala. >> arwa, stand by. let me go to nick paton walsh. he had to retreat indoors and we had to switch the camera light off as well. nick beings can you hear me? >> reporter: yes, hala, i can hear you. what we've seen is that continued volley of tear gas, much of it drifting up towards our position. as you saw, i have to go off between statements into the gas mask. what we're seeing below is not the rally of supporters and demonstrators surging back towards the square. a consistent use of tear gas makes that pretty much impossible. the fires are still burning that

we saw earlier on. there are a few people scattered around here. some seem to be thinking about heading in some direction but getting how dark it is, unfortunately with the gas mask i'm wearing, i can't see what's happening around the corner. ambulances are moving into the central square. the police are keeping the position you've seen before. we've seen protesters moving around staying away from taksim square itself moving down the side streets. again, quiet. people are trying to figure out where this next goes. certainly i'm sure for those in gezzy park where arwa is, panic. listen to how it doesn't seem to

stop. >> nick, it a peersz as though the riot police has the upper hand right now. is that fair to say? have they cleared the square? >> reporter: unquestionably. unsurprisingly. professionally trained, equipped, and many would imagine planning this for days. although it's hard to see what the strategy is. this is into its 12th hour. tear gas being fired again and again. somewhat reasonably lowly fired. they're down the side streets. we touched back into istanbul away from taksim square. lots of tear gas. a substantial police presence in the very center of the square itse itself.

of course, the question is what is the end game here? what are they trying to prove to demonstrators? are they trying to restore order from the center of the city. wherever you stand on the lines of this protest, nobody likes seeing scenes like this. very hard in the commercial hub of turkey. definitely a question would be exactly how can you bring this to an end? >> nick, we're going to let you take a break. breathe freely in your gas mask if you can. just to recap for our viewers joining us here in the united states but also around the world watching these dramatic pictures coming to us live once again with fires burning in the center of istanbul in taksim square. protesters against the government of prime minister erdogan. they're saying they oppose his authoritarian style, that they are tired of their leader not listening to them. all these escalating in quite a dramatic fashion this evening with a standoff between riot

police and protesters that escalated into clashes, tear gas, water cannon. now it appears riot police are clearly in control. what will happen next. let's turn it over to my colleague christiana amanpour in new york. christiana. indeed, welcome to viewers around the world and in the united states as we continue cnn's breaking news coverage of these breaking news coverage that are continuing in taksim square in the center of istanbul which is in turkey which is, of course, one of the main regional players in that region. a very critical ally of the west including the united states. prime minister erdogan forging a deep political and personal bond with president obama here in the united states and with many leaders in western europe. also vital as the world deals with issues and crises like iran and syria. tonight this is now 12 hours

into a perpetual standoff between now police and protesters in taksim square. it started two weeks ago with a peaceful protest by elements of people in istanbul trying to protect the environment, they said. they were protesting and objecting to a government plan to turn a pond near taksim into a development. then over the last several weeks how those protests spread across the country to the capital ankaor and there have been all sorts of images around the world with police responding with tear gas, water cannons. the prime minister recep tayyip erdogan was taken by surprise and he was out of the country when this happened. he's now in his third term.

he served about 11 years in power at the helm. after all the power that he brought to turkey, sidelining, very intrusive military, instituting democratic reforms, instituting reforms in the police system and, indeed, the judicial system. there are many turnings who believe he is way too authoritarian. he dismissed them as louts and riffraff. he said he wanted to address some of them. he's condemned what he calls people who have joined this movement and hijacked it. he says that they are trying to undermine turkey, trying to damage turkey's booming economy and trying to give turkey a bad name. we want to go to our correspondents on the scene. we've been talking to nick paton walsh and arwa damon.

they've seen them with their gas masks on and tear gas is firing. the pictures show a fairly quieter situation than was the case even half an hour ago. seems to be a series of cat and mouse games between the police and the protesters with the police coming in and the protesters shunting aside and they're moving back. nick, they're in taksim square. what does it feel like on the ground now? wrr as y >> reporter: as you mentioned, things quieting down. they're firing a substantial volley of tear gas in that direction. i think through the fog of my gas mask and the dark light, you can see the image of the fire some protesters moving down that

particular road. i believe that's what they were aiming this massive volley of tear gas at. towards our live position here. i have to wear this gas mask. apologize for how hard it is to hear me. we're trying to see how many protesters are down that road. having seen so many standoffs here. christian christiana, this is a repeat cycle of violence on both sides in many ways. i have to confirm that i haven't seen in the dark how the protesters are responding to the police, but each time they rally back in the center they're tear gassed again. they're to the point where the last volleys have been so intense they seem to have been settling down the side streets away from taksim park. there are 50 on this side

street. the question is we have no doubt that the turkish police have the equipment and the number of force. exactly how they intend to use that to restore control, as you were saying, this is exactly what turkey doesn't need to broadcast. christiana. >> nick, you've been covering this virtually from the beginning. you've been an anchor. you've been elsewhere. how heavy handed has the riot police been tonight compared to what you've seen before? are they standing back using the tear gas and water cannons? are armored cars moving forward? give me tonight compared to the worst a week or so ago? >> reporter: take you back a little bit about eight, nine days ago. the capital where police were roaming et streets. small numbers of protesters facing them, some chucking rocks. a sheer excess of tear gas used

is remarkable. police even kicked our cameraman for no reason. i saw them use another baton on another protester walking down the street. that was menacing in some ways. then there was a lull. they wanted to talk to protesters. today when we first ran to the square and riot police moved in, they were quiet. counsel. they were served. it's fair to say that some of the protesters are hard core here. some of them were holding the flags of kurdish or lennonist parties. they were equipped for a fight. >> okay. >> reporter: they had fireworks. they had rocks, too. >> all right. nick, thank you. i need to go now to istanbul, i believe, and to talk to shaban dishly who is a member of the akp and a member of parliament. thank you first for joining me,

mr. dishly, how the prime minister is going to resolve this standoff. >> i think things will gradually have to go down. we have to separate the violent protesters from the peaceful protesters. the prime minister will be speaking from representatives, i don't know how you call them, or other interest groups. today in the party group talk i am sure people have -- he has requested from the people, please stop this. let's talk because all of it is damaging small business owners,

the hotel owners in especially istanbul and the rest of the place where these demonstrations are taking place. so this is actually out of environmental demonstrations. there are terror groups trying to turn this into a cause. they are really using the molotov cocktails and everything, i'm sure. your people are showing it. . we have to first, i think this morning, the governor of istanbul has by using the social media and the television stations told the people, not the people in the gezzy park that they can stay there.

of course, they will be trying to separate those vandal lister or lists from this peaceful group. >> mr. disli, it appears the government said it would not go into the gezzy park area, would not send the police into that area, and then we saw on live television more than an hour ago that at least tear gas and some police presence did go into that area. how are the people meant to respond when they think that they're being told one thing and quite another thing happens? >> i don't know what has been called and exactly followed up. we tell the people and you can see they created a human chain. those peaceful demonstrators will not let the terrorist groups in them because they are being used by terrorist groups. they are really clashing with everyone, the banks, the police

and the public buildings and everything. so first they have to separate them with the other peaceful group. have to do something to separate them. prime minister separated police go home and we'll talk with your representatives otherwise we cannot let things go like that. we r negotiating. we know how to handle these kinds of things. we have trained for it. for the first day, of course, talking with the president, ever apologized that there was extreme use of police force but now police is ordered not to do anything unless they are being attacked. this is still continuing but after these talks with representatives we cannot go like this. it has to be handled, occupy --

in new york, occupy london, whatever democracy. we have to stop this because otherwise it is demoralizing our economy, demoralizing our people. a standoff today, we are democratically elected government and these elections have been observed by all international observations and they have written the point that you have said, this was fair elections. we are vitt sized by the 10% threshold. >> mr. disli, i don't think anybody disputes the fair elections in turkey. indeed, it appears mr. erdogan won 51%. his victory is clear and solid, but i hear you talking about extremists and i hear you talking about terrorists, and that does seem to me an over

exaggeration of who these people are. >> no. no. >> i want to ask you -- let me ask you something. do you accept that even those who volted for mr. erdogan are feeling the burden of an increasingly authoritarian prime minister? >> this is whats international media are trying too say. >> no, sir, this is what the people are saying. >> this is erdogan ten years ago and this is the same erdogan. you cannot change people standing after the -- they are all there. this is now newer doe beg erdog. he has been the party government or the existing government has been very open to the people but since tlooes, four months the

opposition party started this motto, erdogan as dictator in europe and now the international media by using the social media is trying to create such an image. he is not like that. he has been talking with all international leaders. i mean, how can a democratically elected leader, so many people at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, over 200,000 people meeting him on the streets and the international media altogether are not behaving biasly. >> all right. >> trying to create such an image. turkish economy, it will affect

all other economies. we have received an investment grant and this is not going to help at all to the turkish economy. >> one last question. the prime minister said this is not a turkish spring. do you worry within the a.k. party that this could develop into a much bigger challenge? >> no, because i think after today except those groups which i told you exist all the time, they use the motto, we don't want. we want the turkish regime in istanbul. no, we don't want be it. their demands should be met. of course we have received the

message from the people. you always know and trust the people's power. this is how we came to the power and to govern there in this country. we understand it. we received the message. this has been told to the people by acting minister by the president and every department member. after one week at every occasion, at the cabinet, everyone, we are discussing the swaituation and, again, we haveo use international talk to stop the violence. >> mr. dishly, mr. dishly, thank you very much indeed for joining us. saban disli, a member of the ak party and a member of parliament. we're going to nick paton walsh

in tax eem square. we have heard the protesters. we have got their message. we understand what they want. what are they saying to you? >> reporter: much more secular groups who have formed part of the demonstrations we've seen here over the weekend. christ tie and the live pictures involve further volleys of tear gas. it's been met with another

substantial volley of tear gas. many of the questions they've been asking themselves is exactly how can our voices be heard in this particular position. we have a freedom of assembly and police tactics of this nature. are we being allowed our right to express ourselves in a democracy. as a payoff to that they have to keep some sort of functioning economy here in the very heart of istanbul. you can imagine how in many areas across the world they sit in protest and disrupt traffic and business won't be tolerated indefinitely. it's the sheer volume of tear gas, the heavy handedness of the police, the injuries reported. the tear gas rounds being fired in the dark towards protesters in front of me. that's what's encouraged condemnation from washington, from the european union and ask many to say to themselves, if you are going to permit the protests, exactly what point is it acceptable to bring in riot police at this particular level. >> i don't know whether you heard what he said to me when i

asked him about an increasingly authoritarian streak in erdogan, and he said this is erdogan who's always been like this, whether he was mayor of istanbul or ever since he's been president. erdogan hasn't changed. clearly the people are changing. it looks like no matter how this is resolved it will have changed the people's perception of what they can and can't do do you think what you've heard from them that they want the government overthrown? what do they want beyond the original protest about the park? >> i had to put my gas mask on. i can't continue to talk. people here, the outcome they want to see, there are some who change the main focus. they want to see the resignation of erdogan. you've seen other protests yourself in ukraine and they're entirely focused on the

dismissal or the resignation of the prime minister or the president, for example. this has not been the single goal here. they have forwarded their demands. they want gezzy park to be left intact. they want tear gas to no longer be used in situations like this. the election of the democratic government wasn't essential in the demands. they are not united in the demands they're seeking from the erdogan administration. they don't have a specific aim they can whistle away. this violence in the center of the city has been fueling so much of the popular response in the past ten days. people simply moving and apt to express their anger at the heavy handed tactics of the police.

we saw more people coming off the streets. we have to see how this heavy handed response plays out in the hours ahead. >> indeed. onto the live pictures, it looks like we've seen pictures of columns of these police helmeted and in full riot gear walking along there. i want to go now to a columnist from the radical newspaper in istanbul. what do you think is going to be the end state here? how is this going to end? >> nobody really knows how it's going to end. as long as mr. erdogan doesn't step back and accept at least some of the platform, i don't think -- i can't foresee an end to that. the people are asking for the --

they want the appropriate measures to be taken and they want the end of this project for taksim park. nothing has been done. >> you heard the member of parliament there telling us that the prime minister still intends to meet with a group of protesters, particularly those who call themselves environmental protesters, regarding the plans for gezzy park. do you think that that will happen and how do you think that conversation is going to go? what can the prime minister say to allay their concerns? >> well, i don't really know who are going to meet with the prime minister, but it has been 14, 15 days right now and he has waited so long to meet with people.

i've been following his speeches. he has given six consecutive speeches in one day. he was very harsh and the fact that he's being that harsh and using language has really taught the people -- it does not encourage people to have a dialogue with him. i don't know who the people are -- who are the people who have chosen to speak with him but i hope that the dialogue channel will be open and that that can help to end the situation. it won't help the dialogue at all. >> thank you very much indeed for joining us. we continue to welcome our viewers around the world and here in the united states as we cover this breaking story in istanbul, turkey. we're going to go straight now to arwa damon who is in gezzy park. arwa, what is the situation

there right now? >> reporter: it's pretty chaotic. there was a slew of tear gas that was lobbed in here not too long ago. it forced those who were camped in the park to actually push back. people have been trying to move forward getting pushed back as well. a lot of people expressing their demonstrations. they're saying this is just the beginning. the resistance is going to continue. i'm joined by milish. she's 27 years old. she's an i. t professional. she's been here pretty much since the very beginning. >> since friday, actually. began as a peaceful demonstration here. we're not analyzing anything. we're not trying to throw things at police. we're trying to stay here and protest against this place being

a shopping mall. >> reporter: so there's something between a difference between what you're trying to do here and some of the clashes that we're seeing taking place and we did earlier see members from the gezzy park administration -- >> yeah. i have seen a lot of people. there are some people trying to vandalize stuff. lots of protesters are trying to stop those people. most of the time we think that those are probably civilian police. >> reporter: now you heard some of what the prime minister said earlier today. >> yes. >> reporter: how did that make you feel and where do you think that situation goes from here? >> we were trying to make ourselves heard. this is a police of community. we are using this place. we do not want a shopping mall and other things beyond that.

the prime minister chooses to he hear, he's saying he is the president of the country and it's pretty disappointing. >> reporter: this started out about this park, gezi park, it has become so much more whampt is it about for you and for the others who are here today? what does this all mean? again, to resolve it, what can the government do to end this situation? >> up to this point it's been kind of building up step by step. the government and prime minister is trying to get involved in our life, and it's actually beyond the personal space. i'm pretty ashamed to tell that i'm not a political person. this is my first demonstration, by the way. this is the first time that i am -- the police is against me. this is the first time in my life so -- but kind of it does

build up to this point because of the government and their regulations so far. so most of the people are like that. i'm seeing classmates, work mates here. >> reporter: not the extremists that the government is -- >> no. i'm wearing a mask. this isn't how a violent person behaves. >> reporter: again, what is it that the government can do at this point to end this escalating situation that is getting worse by the day? >> actually, what they can do is to just stop denying that this is an illegal and vandalizing -- what they can do is just ask the people what they can do with this place and other stuff as well. they have been making calls about the shape of the ships across the areas and why not

this, what to do with this place. >> reporter: so but for you and for the government to reverse its policy about what it wants to do to the park, but what about for everybody else? the situation is more. how do you get all of that to end? >> of course. most of the stuff is not protest. the government can't act on a whim. they shouldn't be able to do that. it doesn't start and end with the elections. that's what we want. we want to be heard and respected, not -- we try not to view ourselves like criminals. we're not vandalizers, not criminals. the police are acting like we are. >> are you going to stay here all night? nothing is going to drive you back? >> i may not be able to stay here all night because i have work to do, but, i mean, i have a job, but i will come back here day after day, night after night, after work, at the

weekends because, you know, there's a limit that you can take, you know? after that it's -- it's just we cannot take this anymore. the government shouldn't be able to say what they can do with the people, what it can do with this community. it shouldn't be that easeasy. >> reporter: thank you. thank you very much. christiane, that's the sentiment we've been hearing throughout the entire day. it started out about a small environmental issue, escalated into so much more. really, a lot of the people that we're actually seeing here in the park are professionals. they don't necessarily spend all day here, but we do see their numbers swelling at night. now it's become and escalated to a certain degree to where they don't want to see the plan to demolish this park, but they also are going to want to see certain reforms being put into place by this government. it really needs to begin to change its attitude towards the population, towards that percentage of the population

that did not vote for it for it to really begin to appease the wide variety of demonstrators we're seeing in istanbul today. >> thank you. of course, it remains to be seen as to whether some of these protesters, certainly as the prime minister's been saying, the environment allist group which started the peaceful protests, actually do hold talks with him tomorrow as everybody is saying is on the books. in the meantime there are reports coming through, news reports say that the mayor of istanbul is saying that the police will continue operations on taksim square day and night until it's cleared. those are the words of the mayor of istanbul. what you've been watching over the last several mowers is cnn's breaking news coverage of what's going on in istanbul. this is nearly two weeks of protests that has ebbed and flowed. began may 31st as a peaceful sit in against the building of a

mall in a green part in gezi part of taksim square. we have seen that that has been spread around the country over the last week or so as people jump on this bandwagon and protest what they say is an increasing authoritarianism from their prime minister. the government has been saying that, look, there are legitimate protesters and we want to talk to them. we understand them but there are also, quote, vandals, extremists, terrorists who are hijacking this and trying to bring down turkey's economy and ruin turkey's image abroad. who exactly these terrorists are, we're not quite sure. we've been trying to follow this and every in and out. so far there's been sort of a cat and mouse game played on taksim square this evening with police coming in using their water cannons and their other tear gas and the protesters have on some occasions been using fire crackers and molotov cocktails.

we want to go to andrew gardner who's with amnesty international. he has had a team of police or rather people monitoring the police there. we're going to go to him as soon as we can. let's go to nick paton walsh who's on taksim square for another check on what exactly the state is right now. >> reporter: christiane, you can't see us on camera in the dark but a small group of protesters are down the street below our bureau trying to use corrugated iron as a shield. some of them edging towards police, some it seems edging up on the side of gezi park. they're replying with another barrage of tear gas. a lot being fired. it's pretty much only present there, the fog of tear gas across the square at the moment. what you have said by reuters reporting, this will continue until they have control of taksim square. that begs the question, how do

you define taksim square. the police are trying to exercise control over what you would refer to as taksim square and gezi park. it must be increasingly difficult inside with the amount of tear gas in this particular area right now to feel safe and comfortable in gezi, heavily wooded, secluded area. that square foggy with tear gas. i'm sure you can see those pictures itself. you have to ask yourself what are the police strategies here to stop the standoff, to stop the to and fro, cat and mouse as you described it. and actually retain control of areas, move protesters because as we see right now, this particular back and forth could go on for yet more hours and i've already been watching this for about 14 already so far christiane. >> all right. nick, you raise the question as to how this is going to actually be cleared in accordance with what the mayor of istanbul has said. he's said and he's calling for

people to stay away for their own safety. we'll continue our measures in an unremitting manner whether day or night until marginal elements are cleared and the scare is open to people. that seems to be the way the government is describing this entire protest week or more. that there are legitimate protesters and there are marginal elements. they say extremists and terrorists. we want to go to andrew gardner as i just said. he's fielded a team on taksim square to monitor what the police are doing. andrew, what can you tell me about how the police are behaving insofar as your people are observing? >> what we've seen all day today is extreme police violence against peaceful demonstrators. there can be absolutely no justification whatsoever for this level of violence and it comes directly following the prime minister's inflammatory

statements against the protesters today. >> are you standing in taksim now and how do you think that this is going to end? you've just heard what we've said about the mayor of istanbul who's asking people to stay away for their own safety and who says the police will continue, quote, unremitting efforts to clear the square no matter how long it takes. >> i'm in taksim close to the square and i've been in both gezi park and taksim square throughout the day. what's been obvious through the past two weeks of demonstrations, that each time when the government uses even more force against the protesters, the protesters just come back in greater numbers and their anger is even greater and even more protests. so what it looks like is happening now is the escalations of the situation. not a common measure by the

government. >> of course as we're looking at these live pictures, at least in some areas where the cameras are directed, things do seem to be a lot calmer. what has the general trend been, do people go home, come back again? what does it look like in terms of an evolving situation over the last several days? >> over the last several days tens of thousands of people have been filling taksim square every evening when the biggest number's have been the people protesting in the evening and through the night. when the protests started this was certainly true in istanbul and in the other major city in the west. so i think we can expect the same thing to happen now and for the anger of the protesters to be felt not just in istanbul but in the other major cities across the city as well. that's why a.m. mes city --

amnesty international is calling on him to negotiate with the protesters, prevent further death and further injury. >> now the prime minister himself says that some four people have been killed through these last 12 days or more of these protests. do you have any sense that there will be a meeting tomorrow between the prime minister and some of the protesters? can you see a way to resolving that in such a meeting? >> i think that's the only way to resolve it. however, i've got no confidence that that meeting will take place. even if it does take place, it will take place after such an escalation and such extreme police violence that it's very difficult to negotiate a situation now given as late as today no intervention would take place in gezi park and that's

exactly what happened. the prime minister committed to negotiate a short time ago and changed that and committed to ending the protests. so this is what's going to happen but it's going to be so much more political after this night of violence. >> andrew gardner from amnesty international, thanks. i want to go back to nick paton walsh who has been covering this from the beginning and reset for our viewers how this all started and how it sort of spun out of control, how these original protesters in gezi park then saw their protests more of into something much bigger and much more widespread. walk us through that. >> christiane, 12 days ago there was a protest in gezi park. you're hearing the crowd behind me ringing out over this battlefield almost in central

istanbul. a central part of taksim square, gezi park attracted a protest angry at the prime minister's grandiose plan to have a shopping mall and a museum but effectively tear down those trees. there was a heavy police response to move those protesters on. in response to that police action more people came out onto the streets growing angry, and they were trying to disperse them. that spread to other cities across turkey. again, the police responded to more people on the street by more tear gas and increased use of a strong arm and then we saw one particular night where it seemed like most of the major population centers of the country had some sort of standoff between protesters

often angry primarily at police tactics and police firing tear gas. they then had a lull and those clashes became more periodic. we saw negotiations. the police were willing to talk to protesters and agreeing we're going to fire tear gas. then deadlines began to be talked of. there's this ominous suggestion that a legal protest wouldn't be allowed. prime minister erdogan saying they were marginals, he cextrem as you just heard yourself. this morning we heard number of people in the square had ebbed significantly. there was a rowdy protest throughout the weekend. joyous. people dancing, music. pretty much in some ways organized. as the working week got underway those numbers thinned. as i walked through the square about midnight last night there really were very few people. even those who had camped in

gezi park, people in tents, a utopian community, they were ebbing in number, too. of course, this morning police have seized upon those lower numbers and decided to move in. now when we first came here they were strolling in. they were calm in their approach. they weren't wearing from what i saw, they weren't wearing their helmets or particularly heavily armored but then protesters responded. there were clashes. i've seen an element in the protesters who were prepared to repel the police efforts. i've seen protesters fire fireworks, throw molotov cocktails and rocks at the police. in fact, an armored police vehicle was in flames it was so heavily hit by molotov cocktails. the police did not respond today with the same vehemence. we've seen more stun grenades,

seen more tear gas. then tonight as police piled out of the square, moved into a corner side street, suddenly vanishing, protesters moved back into taksim, again, that festive atmosphere started. thousands of people gathering and suddenly we saw tear gas. my colleague arwa damon suggesting there was some altercation that provoked that. there have been altercations all day. none of them merited that amount of tear gas. that amount of tear gas fired directly into a large crowd. most of them were joyous. that caused panic. we've seen this back and forth, ebbing at this point of protesters dispersed by tear gas, then rallied back towards the police, being dispersed again by tear gas. at this poinl as we edge towards 11:00, we're seeing many less protesters. relentless cloud of tear grass. as i talk to you my sentences

are punctuated by the sound of more tear gas being fired by riot police. it's unclear who their targets are. i'm sure they can't see the people in the side streets because it's so dark. this is a highly dangerous environment. just the physical location we're in, it's a building site. there are underpasses with 30 foot drops where people fleeing could drop. there is metal sticking out of the grounds. there's barricades all over the place. the level of tear gas makes it very difficult to see where they're going. there will be questions as to how many people have been injured tonight. i've seen when this amount of tear gas is used, asthma ticks as i've said, i've been watching this for nearly 15 hours. there doesn't seem to be a

specific police plan to obtain authoritative control over this vital part of the city. instead, turkey's economy which has been in a break away pace, seeing the stock market erupt and images like this, frankly if you're a tourist, you don't want to go to a country like this where this happens in the heart of the city. >> nick, indeed. it's so interesting to hear the way the government is describing all of this. the legitimate protesters versus what they call the radicals, the terrorists. you and i have been talking about that, what does that mean. we've heard one of the young protesters talking to arwa who says there do look like to have been some who have vandalized the shops. we've asked the people to be restrained. can you give us a little bit more clarity. do you know anything more about is there, you know, a group who are more sort of troublemakers and jumping on this or is that just a government excuse?

>> i think it's fair to say we've seen evidence of people prepared to fight the police. some of those groups were bearing the fight of kurdish or lennonist parties or if they're bearing those flags as an alibi. they were prepared to fight the police. is that a consequence of 12 days of back and forth or are they people normally looking for a fight? we don't know. i think it's fair to surmise here that a lot of the police response is directed towards the mass, not towards those few. i've seen crowd control and riots handled by many different police forces. the more professional ones, they estimate the troublemakers and whisk them away so they don't have to disperse the mass and risk of injury that that causes. simply not seeing that here. what is remarkable, many people remark that to me. they observe the protests today. it's come clear how the police want to retain control. they move in, cause a huge

amount of chaos and they sit there and fall back. we don't know quite what they wanted to achieve by all of these clashes. >> nick, thanks. worth repeating that the mayor of istanbul has gone on television telling people to leave for their own safety and saying that the police will do what it takes. he said unremitting measures to clear the square. it will take however long it takes, he said. i want to go to ankora. the bureau chief from a newspaper there. can you tell me what is going on in ankora and whether there is this kind of protest and trouble there tonight? >> well, actually, the night started a bit quiet but now i do hear a lot of voices coming out. probably people seeing what's happening there in taksim would also be pouring into the streets and into the avenues of ankora as it has happened in the

previous night in the last 13, 14 days. it always continued each and every night after 9:00 p.m. we're at a park similar to gezi park. in kula park it gets assembled. while they come together in big squares of the city, in the suburbs of the capital city, the other people are using the packs and they're sort of protesting the government's authoritarian attitudes towards the protesters. by all means, i mean, like the car drivers are using the -- the noise of their cars.

ordinary people are on the streets protesting, shouting. everybody is in a mood of protest. >> so you're there in the capital, ankara. how do you think this is going to end? is there going to be any kind of meaningful dialogue by the prime minister as he's called for and certain elements of these protesters? do you think knowing the situation that this could calm it down or not? >> well, christiane, actually today, the day started with a glimmer of hope because yesterday the prime minister stated that the prime minister was going to meet with the representatives of the protest movement tomorrow, on wednesday. however, just very early in the morning as you have seen, now he still continues, the protesters in taksim square has started, it has become worse and worse during the day and i think the

chances of any representative meeting with the prime minister tomorrow is near to nil. very slim. although early in the morning, really we were hoping that in this meeting with the prime minister, there can be some sort of consensus, some sort of dialogue at least some of the requests of the protesters might be accepted we were hoping, but now looking at what's going on there in taksim square, it would indicate at the very moment, i mean, it is very difficult. and it seems as you also mentioned through your broadcasting, i mean, both the istanbul governor and the prime minister, i mean, they don't have in their latest statements today, they haven't shown any kind of sign of dialogue with the protest movement. that's very unfortunate. >> yeah, i was going to ask you,

what did you think when you saw the mayor of istanbul on television a short while ago saying that this was going to continue, the police action, until the square is cleared? >> yeah. i mean, not only the mayor, but also the governor. both of them used the similar -- similar attitude, but they're not alone. i mean, it starts with the prime minister, of course. there are some actually moderate voices even in the government, like the prime minister, but also in state structure up to the president but unfortunately the prime minister didn't share their approach and the way of dialogue with the protestors even though people are ready for a consensus and to solve this issue with finding a common way. but it seems, i mean, the

problem seems to be that the prime minister doesn't want to negotiate, even for the -- for any of those projects that he wants to build up to the taksim square. that seems to be the sole problem that the prime minister doesn't want sort of a dialogue or a consensus with these protesters. >> all right. all right. utku >> all right. we are going to put that question to the chief adviser. thank you very much for joining me. do you think the prime minister will have these talks that he has called for and has agreed to and will there be any meaningful result from them? >> yes, the prime minister is planning to have the meeting tomorrow with representative of the peaceful protesters. and, in fact, it's an important step on the part of the government after days of protests, attacks, you know, on

public buildings, priority property, police, et cetera, and the tomorrow meeting in fact is an indication and confirmation of the fact that the government has made a clear distinction between peaceful protesters and troublemakers from the very beginning. >> right. i know you've been saying that. let me ask you this, the government also said no police would go into the park and they did and they fired tear gas. how the people meant to trust the word from the government? >> a little clarification there. the police as far as i know did not go into the park, i'm looking at the pictures that you're showing from the park area, are allowed and free to go around the park. they cleaned up the square. there are two places there. they are close to each other. the morning interception was meant to clear up the square,

and -- >> can you clear up are the protesters able to stay at the park? our reporter was there and there was tear gas. >> no, the protesters are allowed to stay there at the moment. >> and they're allowed to stay? >> they're allowed to stay. the police have been in to clean up the squares. maybe your viewers may not know these groups. these are mostly very marginal, some of them very illegal groups that have tried to dominate the scene and occupy the situation and if you had a chance to look at some of their placards and their banners, et cetera, you clearly see the type of message they are giving.

>> we've heard many like nrs, certainly members of the prime minister' party make this discontinudi distinction in calling many protesters radicals and who are these people you call terrorists? why do you not accept they're part of a broad are and expanding protest movement? >> well, it's very clear. this is not any different from the methods used in, say, the u.k. to disperse the crowds. today the g8, they stormed the building. and the same thing and in the occupy wall street events. the same thing happened in greece and spain and most recently in sweden.

the police have the mandate to establish public order and peaceful process have been allowed to have random demonstrations in the park but others this morning attacked the police with molotov cocktails and sticks and whatever they can get and they are not peaceful protesters. that's why the prime minister has reached out to have a dialogue about their concerns about many issues. you have to make distinction to have a meaningful dialogue. at least some of this marginal groups that have been attacking the police, public buildings, et cetera, anywhere in the world they will not be considered peaceful protesters. >> so mr. kalin, what is the prime minister ready to give in his talks tomorrow, as you say still plan to go ahead with these protests. they've made several demands. what is the prime minister willing to give? >> of course the message is very

clear, that he's willing to have this dialogue, he's listening to these people and of course i cannot predict the contents of the discussion tomorrow but his message as he's been saying over the last two days that he's willing to have this dialogue with the peaceful protesters, as long as their demands are democrat democratic. you know, calling a government to resign is not sufficient by itself. this is an elected government. people have been talking about the government having an authoritarian streak, the prime minister becoming almost a dictator. that okayation is coaccusation false. turkey, the most recent election was held in 2011, the prime minister was elected with 60% of the vote. but the picture people are trying to and some of the media i have to say are trying to depict is as if you have a dictatorship in turkey, fas all

life has come to a halt. in fact, what you are showing on your screen is only a very, very small part of istanbul. >> well, we are getting -- we are getting as wide a view as possible and that's why we're very grateful to be talking to you. let me ask you, will the government, will the prime minister agree not to, you know, raise gezi park, agree not to do this mall? also i have to ask you about the alcohol issue. that does worry a lot of turkey's young, secular people, who are used to being able to have a beer in the square. people are worried about a creeping theocracy. i'm going to say it like that. >> well, again, i think this is really an expression of a great confusion about some of the measures that government has taken in recent years about, say, alcohol regulation.

the alcohol regulation that was passed and that was approved yesterday by the president, in fact, brings exactly the same international standards that you have anywhere in the world that you go to the u.k. or germany or the united states. it's not any different, it's the same global standards that the world health organization has instituted for the purchase and use of alcohol. it's not any different. when you have the same regulation in the u.k., it's considered to be protecting the public from the consumption of alcohol, then you have the same thing in turkey to suddenly theocracy? i'm having a hard time to understand this argument. in regards to some of the protesters, i have to mention this, some of the people disrupting the public order, you have look at some of their flags, et cetera. among them are the famous leftist organization, which carried out the attack on the american embassy back in

february which killed a couple of people there. when you say these are all pieceful protesters -- >> so the question, mr. kalin -- go ahead. -- >> >> go ahead. >> this is a meaningless statement people have been using. you have similar regulations. in the uk prime minister cameron said there will be zero tolerance to all the destructors, the looters, et cetera. this is considered a measure of protecting public order when police and other officials act in the same way in istanbul it's called authoritarianism?

is it a double standard? i don't know. >> i'm not going to belabor this point. you know people are fed up with seeing journalists jailed. i want to ask you one final question. that is how is the istanbul police going to clear taksim square while allowing protesters continue to stay in the park? the mayor says it's going to continue until it's cleaned. >> it's not going to be any different from what happened in the occupy wall street events in new york and other places. there are designated areas for peaceful protesters to have their protests and those places have been designated. in ankara, it's close to the office of the prime minister. for any other march, illegal

demonstration, et cetera, obviously the police have to take a measure. i'll give you one example with concrete evidence. last week on the second day of the protests on june 1st, saturday, the prime minister ordered the police to leave the taksim area and the park. the police left on saturday and we thought this would calm things down. the same thing happened in ankara. everything was going fine until 8:00 in the evening. suddenly a group of people started to march on towards the prime minister's office. you have interviewed the prime minister if you remember a couple of months ago. and in ankara i was in the prime minister building, the same group and similar groups began to march toward the building of the prime ministry. can