ISTANBUL â€” After 18 days of antigovernment demonstrations that presented a broad rebuke to the countryâ€™s leadership, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the riot police to storm the center of the protest movement in Gezi Park on Saturday evening, setting off a night of chaos in downtown Istanbul. 
 
 As protesters fled the tear gas and water cannons, the police pursued them, in one case into a luxury hotel near the park where medics tended to people injured in the raid. Within hours, thousands of people began streaming downtown to protest the crackdown, setting bonfires on the cityâ€™s main boulevard as tear gas wafted through streets normally bustling on a Saturday night. 
 
 Local officials said at least 44 people had been injured in the mayhem â€” the worst since the protests began â€” but their counts are often low. Some people sprawled on the floor of a makeshift clinic in a hotel ballroom complained of burns from chemicals in the jets of water shot from the water cannons. 
 
 The crackdown came just a day after it appeared that Mr. Erdogan may have outflanked the protesters, whose complaints against the planned destruction of Gezi Park for an Ottoman- themed shopping mall grew into broader anger and nationwide protests over what critics call Mr. Erdoganâ€™s authoritarian style. The wider protests began after the first police attack in the park, in Taksim Square. 
 
 Facing the gravest political crisis in more than 10 years in power, Mr. Erdogan was initially defiant, but late last week attempted to halt the broader movement against him by offering a compromise on the razing of the park that included letting the courts decide what should happen. He won over the protest organizers, but they struggled to bring along the rank-and-file demonstrators, who vowed on Saturday to stay put. 
 
 Then, even as the organizers continued to try to work for a peaceful solution, Mr. Erdogan appeared to lose patience, sending in the police. 
 
 It is unclear how the latest crackdown will play out in the wider population, given that Mr. Erdogan â€” who remains popular in many parts of the country â€” had first offered a compromise. But the brutality of the police assault already set off new demonstrations in Istanbul, and the capital, Ankara, and appeared to harden the resolve of the core protesters. 
 
 â€śWe will keep coming back,â€ť said Tulay Bardak, 52, who had fled the park on Saturday night. â€śWe will resist. Itâ€™s us against them. No amount of gas can keep us out of the park.â€ť 
 
 By 3 a.m. Sunday, the police were chasing protesters in the streets in Istanbul near the contested park, firing tear gas, water cannons and, according to many demonstrators, rubber bullets. Some protesters hurled rocks and bottles, but most were attempting to march peacefully to Taksim Square. To try to stem the flow of new protesters, the city shut down the subway, ferries and some bus routes and the police were blocking main arteries to Taksim. Earlier in the evening, as violence engulfed the city center, Istanbulâ€™s mayor, Huseyin Mutlu, said on television, â€śThe police will go easy on the protesters.â€ť 
 
 He criticized the foreign media for â€śgiving false information about Taksim,â€ť and said, â€śwe should be a loving society, not a clashing one.â€ť Several private television stations, meanwhile, appeared to back off their coverage as the protests intensified. Mr. Mutlu later said the crackdown in the park had lasted only a short time and â€śdid not cause any problems.â€ť 
 
 One of the protesters who was in the park at the time of the raid, who gave only his first name, Deniz, said, â€śThey fired sound bombs first, and then the tear gas came, and we were caught totally off guard. It was as if they were trying to kill us, not evacuate the park.â€ť 
 
 The luxury Divan Hotel, on the edge of Gezi Park, became a refuge for protesters fleeing the violence. Hundreds of protesters, wearing hard hats and gas masks, filled the lobby, where glass cases of cuff links and silk handkerchiefs were smeared with milk that the injured used to clear their eyes of tear gas. As some kept up their anti-Erdogan chants in the lobby, ambulances arrived and medical workers shuttled in with oxygen tanks and other medical supplies. 
 
 â€śDoes anyone have any burn cream?â€ť one man yelled. ||||| Media caption Gezi Park protester Yigit Aksakoglu: "We don't know how long we'll be in the park" 
 
 Turkish protesters have vowed to continue occupying Istanbul's Gezi Park. 
 
 Their defiant statement came despite the prime minister's promise to halt a redevelopment plan which sparked two weeks of anti-government unrest. 
 
 Recep Tayyip Erdogan's offer was presented as a major concession. 
 
 But after all-night discussions in Gezi Park, the protesters said their movement was bigger than a simple conservation protest. 
 
 "We will continue our resistance in the face of any injustice and unfairness taking place in our country," the Taksim Solidarity group, seen as most representative of the protesters, said. "This is only the beginning." 
 
 Protest timeline 31 May: Protests begin in Gezi Park over plans to redevelop one of Istanbul's few green spaces 3 June: Protesters establish camps with makeshift facilities from libraries to food centres 4-10 June: Protests widen into show of anti-government dissent in towns and cities across Turkey; clashes between police and demonstrators 11/12 June: Night of clashes see riot police disperse anti-government demonstrators in Taksim Square, which adjoins Gezi Park; camps in the park remain 13 June: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issues a "final warning" to protesters to leave Gezi Park 14 June: Government agrees to suspend Gezi Park redevelopment plans until a court rules on the issue, PM holds talks with members of a key protest group 15 June: Protesters vow to continue occupying Gezi Park Q&A: Protests in Turkey Why is Gezi Park so important? Turkey sails further into dangerous waters 
 
 Meanwhile, in the capital Ankara, riot police again used tear gas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators overnight. About 30 protesters were reported to have been arrested. 
 
 Mr Erdogan is addressing supporters of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) called to show support for the embattled premier. 
 
 The prime minister's offer to stop the Gezi Park redevelopment until a court ruled on its legality was his first conciliatory gesture since the challenge to his Islamist-backed government began. 
 
 He had previously taken a tough line on the protests, branding the demonstrators "extremists" and "looters". He said the unrest was being encouraged by foreign forces to undermine Turkey and its economy. 
 
 "Young people, you have remained there long enough and delivered your message.... Why are you staying?" Mr Erdogan said in a speech broadcast live on television in which he made his offer. 
 
 Ankara clashes 
 
 The contested park is a rare patch of green in Turkey's biggest city. 
 
 Last month, an Istanbul court issued an initial injunction against the plan to cut down trees in the park to make way for a shopping centre and replica 18th-Century military barracks. The government has appealed against the ruling. 
 
 The project was the initial spark for the protests, which then broadened into anti-government demonstrations in several cities which saw violent clashes between police and demonstrators. 
 
 Media caption Quentin Sommerville reports from Gezi Park: "The mood here in the park still remains defiant" 
 
 Five people have died and thousands have been injured since the protests began on 31 May, spreading to the adjacent Taksim Square a day later and then to other towns and cities across Turkey. 
 
 Protesters have accused Mr Erdogan's government of becoming increasingly authoritarian and of trying to impose conservative Islamic values on a secular state. 
 
 The police crackdown on protesters in Istanbul, Ankara, and other towns and cities has drawn international concern, especially from Europe. 
 
 And Turkish broadcasters have been heavily criticised for not covering the protests in their early days. 
 
 The BBC has suspended its partnership with Turkish broadcaster NTV following its decision not to transmit the BBC programme Dunya Gundemi (World Agenda). 
 
 BBC World Service director Peter Horrocks said: "Any interference in BBC broadcasting is totally unacceptable, and at a time of considerable international concern about the situation in Turkey the BBC's impartial service to audiences is vital." 
 
 The dropping of the programme came after NTV had apologised to its staff and viewers for not covering the protests when they first began.
– Yesterday, Turkey's government offered to stop pushing the redevelopment of Istanbul's Gezi Park until after a court ruling; today, protesters say that's not enough. They plan to hold their ground, they say, per the BBC: "We will continue our resistance in the face of any injustice and unfairness taking place in our country," says the Taksim Solidarity Group of demonstrators. "This is only the beginning." The decision comes after Taksim Solidarity members discussed the government's offer with fellow protesters, prompting calls of "Cowards! Liars! Sheep!" the New York Times reports. "The government thinks the solidarity group represents all of us, and the rest are extremists and terrorists, but that is just not true," says a protester. "We do not have a representative." The stance could pave the way for new clashes with police, the Times notes. The capital, Ankara, saw just such action last night as police cleared protesters with tear gas and water cannons; some 30 protesters were reportedly arrested, the BBC notes.