Turkish lawyers join the protest fray, angry at rough treatment ANKARA, Turkey Thousands of black-robed Turkish lawyers stormed out of their courthouses Wednesday, shouting about the alleged rough treatment of their colleagues by police amid the country's biggest anti-government protests in years. The rallies by clapping, chanting jurists added a new twist to the nearly two weeks of protests that started in Istanbul and spread to dozens of other Turkish cities. The protests have shaped up as the biggest test yet in the 10-year rule of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted government. The embattled premier hosted talks with a small group of activists Wednesday afternoon in a bid to end the standoff, though critics in the streets said the 11-person delegation wasn't representative of the protesters - and insisted it wouldn't end the showdown. Meanwhile, police and protesters retrenched after fierce overnight clashes in Istanbul's Taksim Square. The protesters say the prime minister is becoming increasingly authoritarian and is trying to force his deep religious views on all Turks, a charge that Erdogan and his allies strongly deny. The government, meanwhile, pressed ahead with uncertain efforts to defuse the protests. President Abdullah Gul, seen by many as a more moderate voice than Erdogan, said the government couldn't tolerate more of the unrest that has disrupted daily life in Istanbul and beyond. He promised, however, that authorities would listen to protesters' grievances. "I am hopeful that we will surmount this through democratic maturity," Gul told reporters. If they have objections, we need to hear them, enter into a dialogue. It is our duty to lend them an ear. The protests erupted May 31 after a violent police crackdown on a peaceful sit-in by activists objecting to a development project replacing Gezi Park with a replica Ottoman-era barracks. Erdogan hosted the 11 activists - including academics, students and artists - in his offices at his Justice and Development Party in Ankara. The activist group Taksim Solidarity, which includes academics and architects who oppose the development plan, said its members hadn't been invited to the meeting with Erdogan and predicted it would yield no results. "As police violence continues mercilessly ... these meetings will in no way lead to a solution," the group said in a statement. It also reiterated the group's demands, saying Gezi should remain a public park, senior officials behind the police excesses should be fired and all detained protesters should be released. "We are still here and our demands haven't changed," group member Ongun Yucel said at the park. People who are in the meeting are not representative of Taksim Solidarity. They are people who have nothing to do with what is going on here. Erdogan has insisted the protests and occupations, which he says are hurting Turkey's image and economy, must end immediately and are being organized by extremists and terrorists.