Hatay , Turkey ( CNN ) -- Clashes erupted across Turkey on Tuesday after a predawn skirmish between police and protesters left one demonstrator dead in the border province of Hatay . Crowds of demonstrators gathered in the cities of Istanbul , Ankara and Hatay to denounce the death of Ahmet Atakan , a 22-year-old who recently graduated from accounting school . Police in Istanbul dispersed demonstrators using water cannons , tear gas and rubber pellets . Thousands of demonstrators tried to reach Taksim Square , a main commercial area that has been the site of clashes since May . Riot police prevented small groups from congregating in the square . Demonstrators erected barricades , threw stones and shot firecrackers at the police . Crowds of protestors chanted `` Down with the government '' and `` Solidarity with Armutlu '' referring to the neighborhood in Hatay where Atakan was fatally injured . According to the official government broadcaster , TRT , the tear gas around the Taksim area blew into a nearby football stadium where the youth Swedish national soccer team was squaring off against Turkey 's national squad . The Spanish referee suspended the game after the tear gas wafted into the stadium , which is named after Turkey 's prime minister , Recep Tayyip Erdogan . Several days ago , Istanbul lost a hotly contested bid to host the 2020 Olympics to rival Tokyo . Many analysts said the widely criticized use of police force to crush anti-government protests last June may have played in a role in Istanbul 's Olympic defeat . Differing accounts of how protester died . There is still controversy over how Atakan , the protester in Hatay , died . In a press release , the Hatay governor 's office said Atakan was killed in a fall during a clash between police and demonstrators . Shortly before 1 a.m. on Tuesday , a patrol unit reported that one person `` had fallen to the street from a building '' and an ambulance was sent , the governor 's office said . `` However , people at the scene wanted to take the injured individual to the hospital with their own resources , and our citizen Ahmet Atakan was taken to the Antakya Government Hospital , but he lost his life in spite of all efforts at the hospital . '' Police released a video taken from atop an armored vehicle that showed the blurry image of a man apparently falling off a street curb into the street . But eyewitnesses insisted Atakan was struck in the head at short range by a tear gas canister fired from the turret of an armored vehicle . Eylem Mansuroglu said that immediately after being hit by the canister , Atakan was grazed by a passing police vehicle . Atakan 's blood still stained the pavement where residents erected a makeshift memorial for the dead man . Hasan Akgol , a parliament member from Turkey 's opposition CHP party , told CNN he had seen Atakan 's body on a stretcher . `` I could n't believe it , seeing a young kid covered in blood , '' Akgol said . `` He had an injury behind his ear , blood all over his body , scratches on his body . '' Atakan is the second anti-government protester to die in Hatay this summer . Neighborhood rises up in protest . Atakan 's parents told CNN their son had gone out to the streets after attending a wedding Monday night , to attend a protest sit-in . They said it was a weekly protest in honor of Abdullah Comert , another young man from the same neighborhood who was killed in a clash with police last June , barely 3 blocks from where Atakan was fatally injured . The protest was also against the Turkish government and its strong support for Syrian rebels and a proposed U.S.-led military operation in Syria . Bergen : Syria plunging Mideast into sectarian war ? `` My son protested against war so that there would be peace . In Turkey they kill those who want peace , '' screamed Atakan 's weeping mother , Emsal , before her son 's burial on Tuesday . `` Erdogan 's dogs killed my son , '' she wailed . In the afternoon on Tuesday , a procession of more than a thousand people escorted Atakan 's coffin to a cemetery , chanting , `` We are all Ahmet . You can kill one but not all , '' and `` Murderer police will answer for their actions . '' After the burial , crowds marched to the street where Atakan was injured . Police used water cannons and fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators . Protestors set up burning barricades and threw stones at armored police vehicles . Much of the neighborhood of Armutlu appeared to be rising up in protest . Women screamed out of their balconies , demanding police stay out of the area . From an apartment building , one resident hurled a potted plant off a balcony at an armored vehicle passing on the street below . A portly woman threw a plate down on to the street . One man carried a toilet out into the road and smashed it onto the ground to build a barricade out of the debris . Aid worker : Syrian refugee crisis creating long-term burden for neighbors .
Turkish anti-government protester Ahmet Atakan dies in the early hours Tuesday . The 22-year-old was taking part in a sit-in against military intervention in Syria . Hatay governor 's office says he fell from a building after police and protesters clashed . Anti-government protesters also clashed with police in Ankara and Istanbul , media say .