Turkish leaders at odds over protests

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish riot police launched round after round of tear gas against protesters on Monday, the fourth day of violent demonstrations, as the president and the prime minister staked competing positions on the unrest.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected the protesters' demands that he resign and dismissed the demonstrations as the work of Turkey's opposition. President Abdullah Gul, for his part, praised the mostly peaceful protesters as expressing their democratic rights.

The two men could face off next year in Turkey's presidential election.

Turkey has been rocked by violent demonstrations since Friday, when police launched a pre-dawn raid against a peaceful sit-in protesting plans to uproot trees in Istanbul's main Taksim Square. Since then, the demonstrations by mostly secular-minded Turks have spiraled into Turkey's biggest anti-government disturbances in years.

Clashes continued late into the night Monday in both Istanbul and Ankara.

In Istanbul, acrid clouds of tear gas billowed up from the streets of the Besiktas area as protesters ran for cover. Riot police deployed water cannons to keep demonstrators back.

In Ankara, protesters chanted for Erdogan to resign.

Turkey's main stock exchange dropped 10.5 percent Monday as investors worried about the destabilizing effect of the demonstrations.

The Turkish Doctors' Association said one protester died after a vehicle slammed into a crowd in Istanbul but the governor's office insisted the man's death was accidental. The doctors group also said eight people hurt in Ankara were in critical condition.

The protests are seen as a display of frustration with Erdogan, whom critics say has become increasingly authoritarian. -- AP