Hundreds of Turkish riot police firing teargas forced their way into the Ankara headquarters of the country's main opposition party, days after a court had dismissed its leadership.
The scuffles were the latest episode in a crackdown by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his political rivals, who have angrily resisted in the streets.
Party members had blocked the building's entrances, defying the court order issued on Thursday as part of an official probe against the Republican People's Party (CHP), before officers broke in to remove the group's leader.
"They stormed our headquarters, used tear gas, beat us with batons, ransacked the party (building) and threw us out," Ozgur Ozel CHP party leader said.
He said Mr Erdogan had "lost his senses", claiming the assault was part of the president's manoeuvres "to win the next elections", due in 2028.
Last year, Turkish authorities jailed Mr Erdogan's main political rival, Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was the CHP's candidate for the 2028 presidential election.
They arrested him on corruption charges which he has dismissed as politically motivated.
Thursday's court order cancelled the 2023 victory in party elections of Mr Ozel and named its former chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu - a lacklustre figure who suffered a string of electoral defeats - as interim leader.
"Just as he (Erdogan) jailed the presidential candidate who could have beaten him, he has now officially closed the political party that could have beaten him," Mr Ozel said.
Rights group warning
Ejected from the party building, Mr Ozel walked several kilometres in the rain towards parliament, surrounded by supporters.
"The Republican People's Party will from now be on the streets or in the squares," he said as he was forced out of the building.
He later added: "Turkey has ceased to be a modern democratic republic and has turned into an authoritarian regime."
Mr Kilicdaroglu's backers had earlier tried to push their way into the party headquarters, before police received orders to step in and take the building.
Last year, similar scenes broke out in Istanbul, when the courts named an administrator to take charge of the regional CHP offices.
Global NGO Human Rights Watch on Saturday warned that Mr Erdogan's government was undermining Turkish democracy with "abusive tactics" against the CHP.
It called the court order "the latest deeply damaging blow to the rule of law, democracy and human rights" in Turkey.
