Istanbul and Ankara are now largely quiet after two days of severe anti-government rioting.

Protesters lit fires and scuffled with police in parts of Istanbul and Ankara early on Sunday, but the streets were generally quieter after two days of Turkey's fiercest anti-government demonstrations for years.

Riot police fired tear gas and pepper spray to hold back groups of stone-throwing youths near Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office in Istanbul and hundreds of protesters set fires in the Tunali district of the capital Ankara.

Istanbul's central Taksim Square, where the protests have been focused, was quieter after riot police pulled back their armoured trucks late on Saturday.

The unrest was triggered by protests against government plans to build a replica Ottoman-era barracks to house shops or apartments in Taksim, long a venue for political protest.

But it has widened into a broader show of defiance against Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). – Video and text by Reuters

For more, read: Protest subsides at Istanbul square