A second person died on Friday after clashes between Turkish police and protesters in a working-class district of Istanbul, stirring fears of further unrest as the anniversary of last year’s demonstrations approaches.

A second person died on Friday after clashes between Turkish police and protesters in a working-class district of Istanbul, stirring fears of further unrest as the anniversary of last year's anti-government demonstrations approaches.

Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu called for calm "for the security of the nation" after protesters throwing petrol bombs and stones clashed with riot police in the city's Okmeydani district on Thursday.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government will be anxious to avoid a repeat of last summer's scenes, when a police crackdown on a demonstration against the redevelopment of an Istanbul park at the end of May triggered weeks of street protests in major cities.

The Okmeydani unrest has so far showed little sign of spreading to other parts of Istanbul, including its central Taksim Square, an epicenter of last year's troubles which has been guarded by a small contingent of riot police ever since.

Nine people, including two protesters, a police chief and six of his officers, were injured when the grenade was thrown, the city's police department said.

Thursday's disturbances began when a group of some 10 to 15 people began chanting slogans about a youth, Berkin Elvan, who died in March after clashes with police, and about the mine disaster last week in which 301 people died.

Elvan, 15, died after nine months in a coma from a head wound sustained during an anti-government protest in Okmeydani. Thousands clashed with police in Istanbul when he was buried.