Municipality clears out Istanbul's Taksim area as clashes occur in Harbiye

ISTANBUL

A bulldozer clears construction materials used by protesters to make barricades in Taksim square, in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, June 16, 2013. AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

The night-long clashes between security forces and protesters across Istanbul are still continuing as of noon, June 16.

The police detained several protesters while intervening in a group of protesters around 9 a.m. in Şişli district's Harbiye neighborhood with tear gas.

The intervention continued in the side streets of the neighborhood as some protesters threw stones at policemen and attacked them with fireworks, according to Doğan news agency.

Most of the barricades on the side streets of Şişli have also been removed by the police teams.

However, the number of detentions has not yet been confirmed by the authorities.

As the center of yesterday's clashes, Taksim Square and Gezi Park have been closed to traffic and no pedestrians were allowed in the area.

Meanwhile, Istanbul Municipality cleaners continued clearing out the tents of the protesters at Gezi Park in the early hours of the morning.

All the tents in the area have been loaded onto trucks and removed from the area.

The barricades built by the protesters have also been removed with the help of cranes.

The municipality cleaners also washed the Gezi Park area with pressurized water.