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		</div><p>Police using tear gas and water cannons raided the headquarters of Turkey&#8217;s largest-circulation newspaper, hours after a court placed it under the management of trustees.</p>
<p>Officers dispersed protesters who had gathered outside of the opposition Zaman newspaper&#8217;s Istanbul headquarters before entering the building to escort the court-appointed managers and evict newspaper workers.</p>
<p>The court decision against the newspaper, which is linked to a US-based cleric who is opposed to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has heightened concerns over deteriorating press freedoms in Turkey and sparked international outrage.</p>
<p>The legal action came as the government has intensified a campaign against the moderate Islamic movement led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.</p>
<p>It accuses the movement of attempting to bring down the government.</p>
<p>The case was brought by a public prosecutor in Istanbul and meant the editorial board and management were replaced by people named by the court.</p>
<p>The move, which also affects Zaman&#8217;s sister newspaper, English-language Today&#8217;s Zaman, and a news agency linked to the group, further reduces the pool of opposition television and newspapers in the country, which is dominated by pro-government television channels and newspapers.</p>
<p>Zaman editor-in-chief Abdulhamit Bilici had addressed his colleagues on the grounds of the newspaper before police stormed the building, calling the court decision a &#8220;black day for democracy&#8221; in Turkey.</p>
<p>Today&#8217;s Zaman chief editor, Sevgi Akarcesme, broadcast the police raid on Periscope before police confiscated her phone.<br />
The court decision sparked international outrage.</p>
<p>&#8220;I see this as an extremely serious interference with media freedom which should have no place in a democratic society,&#8221; said Nils Muiznieks, the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is the latest in a string of unacceptable and undue restrictions of media freedom in Turkey.&#8221;</p>
<p>Reporters without Borders issued a strongly-worded statement, accusing Mr Erdogan of &#8220;moving from authoritarianism to all-out despotism&#8221;.</p>
<p>Mr Gulen, who has lived in the United States since 1999, was once Mr Erdogan&#8217;s ally but the two have fallen out.</p>
<p>The government accuses the Gulen movement of orchestrating corruption allegations in December 2013 against ministers and people close to Mr Erdogan as a plot to overthrow it.</p>
<p>The authorities have since branded the movement a terror organisation, although it is not known to have carried out acts of violence.</p>
<p>Mr Gulen was placed on trial in absentia last year on charges of attempting to topple the government.</p>
<p>The government has cracked down on the movement since, purging civil servants suspected of ties to it, and businesses have been seized.</p>
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