Performance artist Erdem Gunduz stood silently for eight hours, facing a portrait of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern, secular Turkey.

Hundreds of others joined him in the square, which was reopened on Monday, before being dispersed by police.

Mr Gunduz later told the BBC he had wanted to take a symbolic stand.

Two leading trade unions held rallies and a one-day strike in defiance of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday.

Mr Gunduz appeared in the square at around 18:00 (15:00 GMT) on Monday and remained there until 02:00 when police moved in.

Ten people who refused to be moved on were detained.

“There are many, many young people on the streets,” Mr Gunduz told the BBC.

“I’m nothing… The idea is important: why people resist the government. The government doesn’t want to understand, didn’t try to understand why people are on the streets. This is really silent resistance. I hope people stop and think ‘what happened there?’”

His protest quickly captured the imagination of the protest movement. The hash tag “duranadam” (“standing man”) dominated Turkish-language Twitter on Tuesday morning.

Mr Gunduz’s protest contrasts sharply with the violent clashes of recent weeks, in which some 5,000 people have been injured and at least four have died.

The protests began on 28 May against a plan to redevelop Istanbul’s Gezi Park, on the city’s central Taksim Square, but it snowballed into nationwide anti-government protests after the perceived high-handed response of the authorities under their three-term prime minister, Mr Erdogan.

Tom Stilwell fell from his neighbour’s balcony in his apartment block in Auckland at 02:00 local time on Sunday (14:00 GMT on Saturday), reports said.

He was trying to lower himself onto his balcony, which was directly below his neighbour’s, when he fell, police said.

His friends said that he had bone fractures and internal injuries, but was “fine” and “a very lucky man”.

He was awake and laughing on Monday, but had no recollection of what happened, his friends told New Zealand newsgroup Fairfax Media.

“He looks alright,” his flatmate, Beth Goodwin, said. “It’s more internal injuries. He’s broken some bones in his ribs and neck but they’re not important bones.”

In a statement, New Zealand police said: “It appears that the man was locked out of his 14th floor apartment. He fell while attempting to climb down the outside of the building from a 15th floor apartment directly above his, in an effort to gain access via his balcony.”

There were “no suspicious circumstances surrounding the fall”, the statement added.

‘Tipsy but polite’

The 20-year-old is said to be in New Zealand on a working holiday.

Mr Stilwell discovered he was locked out of his flat early on Sunday, and asked a neighbour if he could climb down from her balcony into his flat, his friends said.

The neighbour, Geraldine Bautista, told the New Zealand Herald that Mr Stilwell was “a little tipsy” but polite.

“I wasn’t scared of him – he just requested ‘Can you please let me jump off from the balcony? I will not bother you, just let me use your balcony.’”

“I never thought he would really do that. In my mind I thought ‘Okay, I’ll just let you see that it’s really impossible. I didn’t think he’d jump, because it’s really scary.”

However, he quickly pulled himself over the balcony railing before she could stop him, she said.

“I thought I was dreaming… it happened within seconds,” she said. “I couldn’t even scream for help.”

Mr Stilwell’s fall was broken by the roof of an adjacent building, reportedly some 13 floors below.

He was taken to hospital in a critical condition, but was in a satisfactory condition by Monday, a hospital spokesperson said.

Dr Tony Smith, a medical director at St John, an emergency healthcare organisation, told the New Zealand Herald that a person’s chances of survival were increased if they were able to break their fall on something.

However, “survival from falls of that height are extraordinarily unusual”, he said.

The Confederation of Public Workers’ Unions (KESK) and Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DISK) are demanding an end to “police violence”.

The move comes after continued sporadic clashes between protesters and police in Istanbul and the capital Ankara.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has angrily defended the crackdown.

Addressing tens of thousands of supporters in Istanbul on Sunday, Mr Erdogan said it had been his duty to order the eviction of the protesters in the city’s Gezi Park the previous night.

The protests, he said, were “nothing more than the minority’s attempt to dominate the majority”, adding: “We could not have allowed this and we will not allow it.”

He also denied behaving like a dictator, criticised foreign media, and vowed to “identify one by one those who have terrorised the streets”.

Growing tension

The BBC’s Chris Morris, in Istanbul, says an important part of the city centre remains in a state of flux.

The BBC’s Chris Morris says Turkish police have cordoned off the area around Taksim Square and neighbouring Gezi Park

The police have blocked all roads leading to Taksim Square and Gezi Park, which was occupied for 18 days by people protesting against plans for its redevelopment.

But clashes between police and protesters have continued in surrounding areas, involving the liberal use of tear gas and water cannon, our correspondent adds.

Late on Sunday night there were disturbances in streets around Istanbul’s central Taksim Square, in the Nisantasi area and around the Galata bridge, which crosses the Sultanahmet district, according to the Reuters news agency.

A member of parliament for the opposition People’s Republican Party was beaten by police, a spokesman told the BBC.

The Dogan news agency reported that dozens of protesters had been detained in Istanbul and some 70 others in Ankara on Sunday.

One 20-year-old woman in Ankara was critically hurt on Sunday by a tear gas canister that struck her on the head, the city’s medical association said.

The Turkish Medical Association has condemned the extensive use of tear gas, warning of the dangers of exposing such large numbers of people to its chemicals.

The KESK and DISK union federations, which represent hundreds of thousands of workers across the country, said in a joint statement that they would call a strike on Monday over the eviction of demonstrators from Gezi Park.

“Our demand is for police violence to end immediately,” KESK spokesman Baki Cinar told the AFP news agency.

Associations representing doctors, engineers and dentists have said they too will support it.

The Turkish Medical Association accused the police of using “chemical gases savagely” against civilians.

An online survey of more than 11,000 people found that over a week more than half were allegedly suffered the effects of tear gas, it said. Prolonged exposure to the toxic chemical agents posed serious health risks, it added.

The demonstrators have meanwhile vowed that they will not back down.

“We will win Taksim Square again and we will win Gezi Park again,” Alican Elagoz, a spokeswoman for one protesters’ group, told the Associated Press.

Our correspondent says harsh words have been spoken on both sides, and there is now concern about growing tension between Left and Right in a bitterly divided political system.

The protests in Turkey began on 28 May against a plan to redevelop Istanbul’s Gezi Park, but snowballed into nationwide anti-government protests after the perceived high-handed response of the authorities under their three-term prime minister.

Medical officials estimate that 5,000 people have been injured and at least four killed since the protests began.

The plan to rebuild an old barracks on Gezi Park has sparked Turkey’s biggest anti-government protests in decades.

A government spokesman said there would be no attempt to start the project until a court decided whether or not it was legal.

If the court backed the government, the project would be put to a popular vote.

‘Positive outcome’

Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held late-night talks in the capital Ankara with delegates from the Taksim Solidarity group.

The negotiations came hours after he had delivered a “final warning” to the protesters to leave the park.

Tayfun Kahraman of the protest group Taksim Solidarity described the prime minister’s pledge that the development would not continue before a final court decision as “a positive outcome” from Thursday night’s talks.

He said the protesters would evaluate the outcome of the meeting and would present their decision on Friday evening.

Five people have died and thousands have been injured since the protests began in Gezi Park on 31 May, spreading to the adjacent Taksim Square a day later and other cities across Turkey.

‘Authoritarian’

The contested park is a rare patch of green in Turkey’s biggest city.

Last month, an Istanbul court issued an initial injunction against the plan to cut down trees in the park to make way for an 18th Century replica Ottoman-era military barracks and a shopping centre. The government has appealed against the ruling.

The project was the initial spark for the protests, which then broadened into anti-government demonstrations in several cities.

Protesters have accused Mr Erdogan’s government of becoming increasingly authoritarian and of trying to impose conservative Islamic values on a secular state.

Government spokesman Huseyin Celik, from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said that if the court ruled that the park could be developed, a vote would be held “to hear the people’s opinions about the situation”.

He said the park “should not be a place where people live for 24 hours,” and that “the environmentalists should leave”.

“We will ask everyone in Istanbul what they think.

“Anyone who doesn’t want a vote can’t speak of democracy.”

The BBC’s correspondent in Istanbul, James Reynolds, says the Turkish government hopes that the understandings reached early on Friday will be enough to make the protesters leave the park.

But on Friday morning, tents remained pitched and the occupation continues, he reports.

Protests in Taksim Square since 1 June Continue reading the main story

1 June: Taksim Square becomes focus for protests over the development of Gezi Park after clashes with police.

Continue reading the main story

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Patience ‘at an end’

Mr Erdogan has taken a tough line on the protests, branding the demonstrators as “extremists” and “looters”. He has said the unrest was being encouraged by foreign forces to undermine Turkey and its economy.

Speaking at a meeting of the AKP in Ankara earlier on Thursday, Mr Erdogan said: “Our patience is at an end. I am making my warning for the last time.”

“I say to the mothers and fathers, please take your children in hand and bring them out,” he added, going on to say that the park belonged not “to occupying forces but to the people.”

The police crackdown on protesters has drawn international concern, especially from Europe.

On Thursday, the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution that “deplores the reactions of the Turkish Government and of Prime Minister Erdogan, whose unwillingness to take steps towards reconciliation, to apologise or to understand the reactions of a segment of the Turkish population have only contributed to further polarisation”.

Mr Erdogan angrily dismissed the resolution shortly before it was passed.

Also on Thursday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the US expected Turkish authorities to uphold the “fundamental freedoms” of expression and assembly.

“Our patience is at an end. I am making my warning for the last time,” he said.

Clashes between police and protesters in the park and adjoining Taksim Square have continued for nearly two weeks.

Activists have said they will not leave until the government abandons plans to redevelop the park. Mr Erdogan’s party has proposed a referendum on the issue.

Such a vote would not be legally binding but Mr Erdogan implied he would honour its outcome.

“I say to the mothers and fathers, please take your children in hand and bring them out,” Mr Erdogan declared.

“We cannot wait any more because Gezi Park does not belong to occupying forces but to the people.”

His speech at a meeting of his ruling AK Party (AKP) in the capital, Ankara, received a standing ovation.

‘Extremists’

Gezi Park is a rare patch of green in Turkey’s biggest city, and has been the focus of public anger.

Plans to redevelop it into a shopping centre were the initial spark for the protests.

The prime minister has previously branded the protesters there “extremists” and “looters”.

The suggestion of a public vote on the park’s future is unlikely to appease many of the protesters still encamped there.

“There is already a court decision which orders the suspension of work in Gezi Park,” said Tayfun Kahraman from Taksim Solidarity, one of the environmentalist groups fighting to save the area.

It was not even legal to consider a referendum on such an issue, since such votes could only be held on constitutional matters, he added.

“Are they going to ask us whether we approve of chopping down trees? What would the result change anyway?” 22-year-old student Arzu told AFP news agency.

Protests in Taksim Square since 1 June

1 June: Taksim Square becomes focus for protests over the development of Gezi Park after clashes with police.

 

It is not yet clear what failing to heed Prime Minister Erdogan’s “final” warning would mean for the protesters.

Some of those camped in the park have been waiting for news from city governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu, who has been assuring them for several days that police will not intervene, while urging them to leave so that “police can tackle marginal groups”.

Several riot vehicles are still on standby in Taksim – a sign that police have no intention of abandoning the square they stormed on Tuesday.

Protesters fought back then, using stones and Molotov cocktails in reply to the police’s tear gas and water cannons.

‘Who do you think you are?’

The police crackdown on protesters has drawn international concern, especially from Europe.

On Thursday, the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution that “deplores the reactions of the Turkish Government and of Prime Minister Erdogan, whose unwillingness to take steps towards reconciliation, to apologise or to understand the reactions of a segment of the Turkish population have only contributed to further polarisation”.

The resolution also “warns the Turkish Government against taking harsh measures against the peaceful protesters, and urges the prime minister to take a unifying and conciliatory position so as to avoid any further escalation”.

Mr Erdogan reacted angrily shortly before the resolution was passed.

“I won’t recognise the decision that the European Union parliament is going to take about us… Who do you think you are by taking such a decision?”

Five people have died and thousands injured since the protests began on 31 May.