Turkish police crack down on protesters in Istanbul

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The police in Turkey's Istanbul fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon to disperse more than 10,000 anti-government protesters on Sunday.

An eyewitness said five people were injured and one had a heart attack during the demonstration supported by more than 200 political parties, associations and platforms in the country.

Clashes broke out between more than 1,000 policemen and 10,000 protesters after a small group of protestors threw stones at officers at a security checkpoint in Kadikoy district of Asian side of Istanbul.

Protesters said they are against the urbanization projects in Istanbul and the worsening corruption in the country.

Some representatives of opposition parties and nongovernmental organizations are among the protesters with slogans like "Let's protect Istanbul against plundering."

Many roads on Istanbul's Asian side were closed for the rally which was officially permitted by the Istanbul Governor's Office.

More than 80 high ranking officials and noted businessmen, including sons of three ministers, were detained and arrested in sweeping raids in Istanbul and the Turkish capital of Ankara this week.

Protesting against the detained head of Halk Bank, Suleyman Aslan, the demonstrators shouted "The thief was here" in front of the bank's Kadikoy branch office.

"Today, we are not only protesting against the corruptions or urban transformation projects, but also everything that happened in the past 10 years of AKP (the ruling Justice and Development Party)'s governing," said one of the protesters on condition of anonymity.

Thousands of protesters also demanded the government to resign, shouting that "We won't let Istanbul to be finished by you," and " AKP will give its testimony to the people."

"One of the reasons why we are here is to defend our rights. There are no human rights in this country but there is bribe in every corner. We expect that these demonstrations continues," one of the protesters called Serdar told Xinhua.

Another protester, Ceren, said that people become more aware of everything after Gezi Park protests. "We are here to say no to the robbers stealing our trees, our culture. As long as we remain to be on the streets, everyone will be more and more aware of what is going on in Turkey," she said.

Most of the protesters said the Gezi soul is back on the streets. Nationwide anti-government protests have taken place since May 30 after the peaceful demonstration against government's redevelopment project in the Gezi Park by the Istanbul city center Taksim square.