Turkish riot police have used tear gas grenades and water cannon trucks to disperse more than 2000 people demonstrating against new internet curbs.
Large numbers of police with body armour and shields backed by armoured water cannon trucks deployed against the mostly young crowd around Istanbul's Taksim Square on Saturday.
"I pay my own internet bill but it's the government that decides what sites I can look at," one demonstrator, Semih, complained to AFP.
Protesters threw stones, smashed windows and sprayed anarchy signs as they were pursued by police down side streets off the central Istiklal Avenue.
Earlier Saturday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vehemently rejected criticism of the new curbs, passed on Wednesday by parliament, to a crowd of several thousand supporters in Istanbul.
"These regulations do not impose any censorship at all on the internet ... On the contrary, they make it safer and freer," Erdogan said, denying that authorities would now have access to internet users' personal information.
"Never. It is out of the question that people's private data will be recorded," said Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003.
The new curbs provoked a storm of consternation, with critics saying they were an attempt by Erdogan to stifle dissent and stop evidence of high-level corruption being seen online.
They give the telecoms authority the power to order a webpage blocked without the need for a court order if the content is deemed to infringe privacy or is offensive.
The timing raised eyebrows because it comes as Erdogan deals with a major graft scandal that erupted in December, implicating his inner circle.
Human Rights Watch said the restrictions raise concerns that a "defensive government is seeking to increase its power to silence critics and to arbitrarily limit politically damaging material online".
European parliament chief Martin Schulz called them a "step back in an already suffocating environment for media freedom", while Washington also expressed misgivings.
Erdogan, 59, is also seeking to push through legislation reforming the judiciary, which critics will say will increase government control, and there are also worries for the freedom of the press.
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