ISTANBUL: 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.

The violence in the neighborhood, which has seen periodic unrest since the 1990s, comes almost a year after protests in Istanbul triggered a summer of nationwide demonstrations which challenged Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s decade-old rule.

Erdogan, who is expected to stand in a presidential election in August, has had a difficult twelve months, with last year’s protests, a corruption scandal dogging his inner circle, and a mine disaster last week drawing renewed criticism of his leadership.

His 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. “Everyone must help bring the situation back to normal. We need calm, we need to act in a calm manner for the security of Istanbul and of the nation,” Mutlu told reporters, warning residents to be on their guard against “provocations.”