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Violent groups who gathered to hold unauthorized May Day rallies on Wednesday clashed with police in İstanbul's Şişli and Beşiktaş districts, Today’s Zaman reported. 

Tensions escalated when the groups attempted to march towards the city's central Taksim Square despite government prohibition of gatherings there due to ongoing construction in the area. A group consisting of members from the Turkish Communist Party (TKP), the Workers' Party (İP) and the Halkevleri Association came together in front of the Republican People's Party's (CHP) building in Beşiktaş. Police intervened with gas bombs when the group tried to walk up to Taksim to mark the day, detaining two protesters. CHP Deputy Chairman Gürsel Tekin was among those affected by the gas. Some of the protestors threw cobblestones at police officers and two reporters covering the incidents were injured during the clash.

Another group gathered in front of the headquarters of the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers' Unions (DİSK) on Halaskargazi Street in Şişli. They were holding banners and shouting slogans. Some of the protestors threw lit fireworks and stones at police and attacked shops in the area with Molotov cocktails. Police used gas bombs to stop them.

Yet another group of protestors, covering their faces, gathered in Şişli's Okmeydanı district and started to march towards Taksim Square shouting slogans in favor of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) -- a left-wing terrorist group that has intensified its terrorist activities targeting public servants and state buildings in the past year. Police fired tear gas at the demonstrators as they tried to break through barricades around the square. They also threw stones, fireworks and Molotov cocktails at police.

The heart of the May 1 celebrations has always been İstanbul's busiest square, Taksim, which, until 2009, was off limits to May 1 demonstrators following May Day 1977, also known as Bloody May Day, when 34 people were killed after unknown assailants opened fire on the crowd. Since then, May Day in Turkey has always been a source of tension. Thousands of police were stationed in several locations on Wednesday to block access to the square.