Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters in central Istanbul today as it continues into the night.

Protesters hurled objects back at police and set up makeshift barricades. They later set fire to kiosks on the streets.

Friday’s violence erupted after a dawn police raid on demonstrators who had camped for days at Gezi Park in anger at plans to build a shopping mall there.

Demonstrators began occupying the park late on Monday after developers tore up trees, but the protest has widened into a broader demonstration against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

As clashes erupted, clouds of tear gas rose around the area in Taksim Square, long a venue for political protest.

Broken glass and rocks were strewn across a main shopping street.

The authorities said they had arrested 63 people.

A total of 12 people, including a pro-Kurdish MP and a photo-journalist suffered trauma injuries and hundreds suffered respiratory problems due to the effects of tear gas during the clashes, the authorities said.

Amnesty International said it was concerned by what it described as “the use of excessive force” by the police against what had started out as a peaceful protest.

Turkey’s Interior Minister Muammer Guler promised that claims that police had used disproportionate force would be investigated.