the square some protesters skirmished overnight with police who used tear gas.

Overall, protests appeared to calm a bit on Wednesday, even as thousands of trade union members on a two-day strike marched to Taksim and into central Ankara.

Some demonstrations were jovial. In Ankara, protesters sarcastically called themselves "looters," a reference to Erdogan's earlier characterization of the demonstrators. A sign on a stall in Taksim providing free food and water read "Revolution Market."

There were scattered violent clashes overnight on roads leading to Erdogan's offices in Ankara and Istanbul, as well as in the city of Antakya, near the Syrian border, where a protester was killed Wednesday from an apparent blow to the head.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, who is standing in for Erdogan while he is on a tripto Northern Africa, has offered an olive branch to protesters, apologizing for what he said was a "wrong and unjust" crackdown on the original sit-in which sparked the protest.

Erdogan had inflamed protesters, calling them an extremist fringe, and refusing to back away from plans to revamp Taksim.

"The steps the government takes from now on will define the course of society's reaction," Eyup Muhcu, an activist said after meeting with Arinc.

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