ISTANBUL (AFP) - Police forces used tear gas and water cannon early on Wednesday to disperse hundreds of protesters in Istanbul and the capital Ankara on the sixth day of nationwide anti-government unrest, media reported.

Demonstrators were trying to march on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's offices in both cities and defied warnings to disperse, according to media images and an AFP reporter.

Clashes also took place in the south-eastern city of Hatay on the border with Syria, where a 22-year-old protester died a day earlier after being wounded during a protest.

Two police officers and three demonstrators were wounded in Hatay in Wednesday's fresh clashes, NTV private news channel reported.

Thousands of other protesters gathered on Taksim Square in Istanbul, the symbolic heart of the protests that erupted into violent clashes on Friday and have spread to cities across the country.

The protests continued despite a government plea to end the unrest which has killed two people according to official sources. Right groups says several thousands have been wounded, while officials put the number at slightly over 300, most of them police officers.