Erdogan dismisses protesters as ‘a handful of looters’

In the southern city of Adana, where violence broke out on Saturday night, Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a fiery speech from the top of a bus.

He told supporters: “We won’t do what a handful of looters have done. They burn and destroy. That’s what looter means. They destroy the shops of civilians. They destroy the cars of civilians.

“They are low enough to insult the prime minister of this country.

“As long as there is life in my body, your prime minister and your party chairman, God willing, will not be deterred by anything.”

We won’t do what a handful of looters have done. They burn and destroy. Recep Tayyip Erdogan

He then travelled to the city of Mersin to make a similar speech, and is scheduled to travel to the capital Ankara later on Sunday.

Mr Erdogan has urged supporters of the ruling Justice and Development Party to avoid violence, after a pro-government group hurled stones at marching anti-government demonstrators in Adana on Saturday.

On Thursday, Erdogan supporters also attacked about 30 protesters in the city of Rize, on Turkey‘s Black Sea coast.

Nationwide anti-government protests were sparked by outrage over police use of force against an environmental protest in Istanbul on May 31, and have grown into a display of discontent toward Erdogan’s government.

Opponents accuse the prime minister of becoming increasingly authoritarian after 10 years in power and of trying to impose conservative, Islamic values on a traditionally secular country.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Saturday, joined by thousands of fans from Istanbul’s rival football teams, Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Besiktas, who had set aside their usual enmity to oppose the government.

There also were mass anti-Erdogan protests in Ankara and the in the city of Izmir. Police in Ankara fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse thousands of people protesting near government buildings.