Shopkeepers and municipal workers began cleaning the streets of Istanbul and Ankaraon Sunday (June 2) after the fiercest anti-government demonstrations in years.
Pockets of die-hard demonstrators lit bonfires and scuffled with police overnight but the streets were much quieter after two days of clashes in which almost a thousand people were arrested and hundreds were injured.
The unrest was triggered by protests against government plans to build a replica Ottoman-era barracks to house shops or apartments in Taksim, long a venue for political demonstrations.
But it has widened into a broader show of defiance against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).
There were more than 90 separate demonstrations around the country on Friday (May 31) and Saturday (June 1), officials said. More than 1,000 people have been injured in Istanbul and several hundred more in Ankara, according to medics.