AP Photo / Gero Breloer
A man shows the victory sign as he enters Gezi Park at Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday.
By Daren Butler, Reuters
ISTANBUL - Turkey reopened an Istanbul park at the heart of last month's demonstrations against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan Monday ? but protest leaders plan to hold another rally there.
Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu announced the reopening three weeks after riot police expelled protesters from Gezi Park following a fortnight of frequently violent protests against plans to redevelop the area.
The protests rapidly mutated into nationwide demonstrations against Erdogan, accused by critics after a decade in power of increasingly authoritarian rule. The unrest died down in late June but police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse protesters who sought to march on Taksim Square and the adjoining park on Saturday.
"We have seen with the visit carried out today that all our work has been completed," Mutlu told reporters in the park, which has been spruced up with the planting of new trees, plants and lawns since the protesters were evicted on June 15.
Taksim Solidarity, combining political and non-governmental groups opposed to the construction of a replica Ottoman era barracks on the site of the park, has called for its supporters to hold a public meeting there at 7 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET) Monday.
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Protests that started as an outcry against a local development project in Taksim Square have snowballed into widespread anger against what critics say is the government's increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda.
Mutlu warned against renewed demonstrations.
"Blocking the parks, making them areas for demonstrations, preventing children, elderly and people from using these areas and turning this into a security problem - we would never ever allow that," he said.
Four people were killed and 7,500 wounded in last month's police crackdown, according to the Turkish Medical Association.
Last week it emerged that a Turkish court had canceled the Taksim Square redevelopment project, including the construction of the replica barracks, although the state authorities can appeal against the ruling.
The ruling marked a victory for the coalition against the project and a blow for Erdogan, who stood firm against protests and riots he said were stoked by terrorists and looters.
In recent days police unleashed tear gas and water cannons on protesters who came to save trees in the public park, but now the protests are directed at Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.
Erdogan has said he would wait for the judicial process to be completed before proceeding with the Taksim plans, one of several large projects for Istanbul, including a major airport, a large Mosque and a canal to ease Bosphorus traffic.
The protests were unprecedented in Erdogan's rule, which began in 2002 with the election of his AK Party. He has pressed significant reforms in the economy and curtailed the power of a military that had toppled four governments in four decades.
Opponents argue that he has become authoritarian in his rule after three election victories and during the June unrest turned increasingly to the Islamist core of his AK Party faithful.
If the country's top administrative court subsequently rules in favor of the development, Erdogan has still pledged to hold a referendum in Istanbul on the government's plan.?
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This story was originally published on Mon Jul 8, 2013 8:51 AM EDT
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