Hundreds of police in riot gear have pushed past barricades to clear a square occupied by protesters in Istanbul.

People have been staging demonstrations against plans to redevelop a nearby park.

Police in Turkey briefly fired tear gas and rubber bullets - prompting some of the activists to set off fireworks and throw stones at officers' water cannon.

Protesters ran into Gezi Park where the demonstration first started last month as a protest against the planned redevelopment of the green space.

A violent police crackdown then on the protest has turned what started off as a single peaceful demonstration into a national uprising against the Islamist-rooted government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that is seen by many as authoritarian.

Sky's Katie Stallard, in Taksim Square, said: "Protesters have set fire to their barricades. They have been throwing rocks at police and we have seen petrol bombs being thrown.

"What some of the protesters are doing is they are trying to grab canisters of gas and throw them back into the police lines.

"In Gezi Park, protesters are chanting their defiant slogans again, while outside police are clearing sections of Taksim Square.

"I spoke to one mother who was determined that they would stay in the park until the end of this operation."