Turkish PM Erdogan urges protesters to leave Istanbul park

SINCAN, Turkey – Turkey’s prime minister has threatened protesters that if they don’t leave Istanbul’s Taksim Square, security forces “know how to clear it.”

Recep Tayyip Erdogan was speaking at a rally of tens of thousands of supporters in the Ankara suburb of Sincan. It came just hours after protesters in the square’s Gezi Park defied Erdogan’s warning that they must leave.

Erdogan warns: “I say this very clearly: either Taksim Square is cleared, or if it isn’t cleared then the security forces of this country will know how to clear it.”

A violent police crackdown on a sit-in protesting a redevelopment plan in Gezi Park has sparked much broader anti-government demonstrations.

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