ISTANBUL (AP) - Riot police with water cannon and tear gas are hitting protesters who remain defiant after the authorities evicted activists from an Istanbul park.

Sunday's clampdown indicated the authorities were taking a hardline against attempts to rekindle the protests.

In Istanbul, the police battled protesters in side streets off Gezi Park and beyond.

In Ankara, the capital, the police dispersed hundreds who tried to hold a memorial service for an activist who died of injuries sustained in a nearby police crackdown nearby on June 1.

A police sweep on Saturday ended a more than two-week sit-in by activists in Gezi Park.

Critics are angry over how Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has handled the crisis.