Turkey in threat to deploy army as protests rage

Turkey warned it may bring in the army to help quell nationwide anti-government protests after a weekend of heavy clashes between riot police and demonstrators sent tensions soaring.

The presence of soldiers on the streets would mark a major escalation of a crisis that has raged for nearly three weeks and has posed the biggest challenge yet to prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted government.

The announcement came as police continued to spray tear gas and water at clusters of demonstrators in Istanbul and the capital Ankara, in battles that raged with fresh intensity after the weekend eviction of protesters occupying Istanbul’s Gezi Park, the epicentre of the protest movement.