Protesters have set up barricades in Istanbul’s streets after Turkish riot police cleared out the occupation of a park at the centre of the strongest challenge to prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 10-year tenure.

Turkey’s prime minister has lashed out at protesters behind a two-week sit-in at an Istanbul park in a boisterous speech to tens of thousands of his supporters.

Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to halt plans to redevelop an Istanbul park at the centre of two weeks of mass anti-government unrest, in a move protesters welcomed as “positive”.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has asked a small delegation of protesters to persuade the hundreds of others occupying an Istanbul park to withdraw, hopefully by the end of the day.