Turkish police detain 25 over posting on Twitter

Early on Wednesday, police detained dozens for posting materials on Twitter which the police said contained “misleading and libelous information,” state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

On Tuesday afternoon, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc apologized for the government’s violent crackdown on the protesters and called on the protesters to end the demonstrations.

However, the demonstrators took to the streets again on Tuesday night, flooding Istanbul’s Taksim Square and taunting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had earlier dismissed them as “extremists” and “vandals.”

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the protesters surrounded Erdogan’s offices in both cities and defied police warnings to disperse.

Since Friday, tens of thousands of anti-government protesters have held demonstrations in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Mugla, Antalya, and many other cities and towns.

The anti-government unrest began after police broke up a sit-in staged in Taksim Square on Friday to protest against the demolition of Gezi Park.

The protesters say Gezi Park, which is a traditional gathering point for rallies and demonstrations as well as a popular tourist destination, is Istanbul’s last green public space.

According to the Turkish Human Rights Association, two protesters have so far died and over 2,800 others injured in the violence.

Amnesty International has censured the Turkish police for the tactics they used to control the protests.