TURKISH police used tear gas and watercannon on Saturday to push back protesters who defied a government warning and gathered in Istanbul and Ankara.

Riot police fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters on a street leading to Istanbul’s Taksim Square, following a stand-off with police on the anniversary of last year’s huge anti-government demonstrations.

Clashes also erupted in the capital, Ankara, where police used watercannon against protesters. Human Rights Association spokesman Abdulbaki Boga said that at least 83 people were detained and 14 people had been injured in Istanbul alone.

Large numbers of police blocked access to Taksim Square as the authorities deployed 25,000 police officers and up to 50 water cannon around the city to thwart demonstrations.

In May and June last year hundreds of thousands of Turks took to the streets denouncing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and demanding more democratic freedoms.

The protests were sparked by government plans to uproot trees in Taksim Square’s Gezi Park and build a shopping centre.

Fanned by outrage at the brutal reaction by police, the demonstrations developed into Turkey’s biggest protests in decades. Thousands were wounded and at least 12 people died.

The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights said last week that more than 5,600 demonstrators were being prosecuted for involvement in the protests.

The Turkish authorities “are actively engaging in a witch hunt against those who participated in the protests,” said federation president Karim Lahidji.