Istanbul ( CNN ) -- Turkish counter-terror police launched pre-dawn raids against scores of targets across Turkey 's largest city Tuesday . At least 30 suspects were detained , Turkey 's semi-official Anatolian Agency reported , in connection with anti-government protests that erupted in Istanbul in late May . What 's driving unrest and protests in Turkey ? The Turkish Interior Ministry , the Istanbul governor 's office and Istanbul police declined to comment on the raids when contacted by CNN . But relatives and friends of some of those detained described the police raids while waiting outside Istanbul 's main police headquarters for news about their loved ones . `` Ten to 13 of them ( police officers ) came around 5 a.m. , '' said Utku Caybas , a student at Istanbul University who said his 20-year old roommate , Cem Eraslan , was detained Tuesday morning . `` They took four computers , our notebooks and some cameras , '' Caybas added . Tugce Ozcelik told CNN police raided her family 's home and detained her 19-year old brother Deniz at 5 a.m. `` They showed a picture of my brother and the search warrant to my father , '' Ozcelik said . She said her brother had recently completed high school and taken a university entrance exam . `` As a family we were all there at the Gezi events . We support the movement ... they think that they can scare us from going out into the street but they ca n't , '' Ozcelik said . She was referring to an unprecedented series of protests that erupted after Turkish riot police repeatedly attacked a peaceful sit-in in Istanbul 's Gezi Park in May . Demonstrators had initially organized a small Occupy Wall Street-style protest against government plans to bulldoze the park and replace it with a shopping mall . For several days , riot police repeatedly attacked sit-in participants with pepper spray , tear gas and water cannons . On May 30 , demonstrators began fighting back , erecting barricades and attacking security forces with stones , bottles and slingshots . The mass civil disobedience and rioting quickly spread to other cities and towns across the country . Thousands of people were wounded in clashes , and at least one police officer and five demonstrators were killed . The most recent fatality was 19-year-old Ali Ismail Korkmaz , who died at a hospital last week after being beaten into a coma during demonstrations in the city of Eskisehir on June 2 . Turkish media organizations have released security camera footage from that night showing men with gas masks and clubs chasing protesters and beating them in the streets of Eskisehir . Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly denounced the protests , calling demonstrators `` terrorists '' and `` vandals . '' Initially , Erdogan accused the demonstrators of being part of an international conspiracy aimed at toppling his elected government . He claimed that protests in both Turkey and Brazil were organized by the same shadowy `` center . '' Over the last week , Erdogan has expanded the scope of the alleged conspiracy , claiming that mass protests and a military coup that toppled the elected government in Egypt were somehow linked to the demonstrations in Turkey . Turkish security forces have largely succeeded in crushing the demonstrations through widespread use of tear gas , water cannons and a growing number of arrests . But in doing so , the Turkish police and government have come under fire from international organizations like the European Parliament and Amnesty International for `` excessive use of force . '' Last week , a coalition of medical organizations including the Boston-based Physicians for Human Rights and the World Medical Association issued an appeal for an international ban on the sale of tear gas to Turkey . `` Police have systematically used tear gas as a weapon on hundreds of thousands of demonstrators , firing tear gas canisters and capsules directly at protesters at close range , '' the medical groups wrote in an open letter addressed to Erdogan . They also called upon the Turkish government to `` prohibit all attacks on medical personnel who provide emergency assistance to injured protestors . '' Turkey 's challenge : Find compromise before violence expands .
thousands people were detained in the raids , a Turkish news agency reported . Relatives of those detained say the raids came around 5 a.m. . thousands killed , At least 30 wounded in recent demonstrations .