Ankara,Turkey - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he is open to "democratic demands" as mass protests against his rule enter a second week.

Three people have died in demonstrations against Erdogan and his Islamic-leaning Justice and Development Party (AKP), in power since 2002.

Following are the main events of the past days:

- May 28: A peaceful local protest begins against plans to redevelop Gezi Park, near Taksim Square in Istanbul.

- May 31: The rally erupts into violence when riot police fire tear gas to clear hundreds of demonstrators.

- June 1: Protesters and riot police clash again. Police fire more tear gas at demonstrators who hurl rocks and bottles.

The unrest spreads to other Turkish cities.

Erdogan withdraws police from Taksim Square but remains defiant over the park plan.

- June 2: Erdogan calls protesters "vandals" and lashes out at the social messaging service Twitter used by many protesters, branding it a "troublemaker".

- June 3: President Abdullah Gul tells protesters their message has been "received".

A medics&39; union says a man was killed when a car ploughed into protesters in Istanbul a day earlier.

Erdogan flies to Rabat at the start of a four-day North African tour.

- June 4: Police and protesters clash again in Istanbul and Ankara.

The reported death toll rises to two with officials in the southern city of Antakya saying that Abdullah Comert, 22, was killed at a protest on Monday.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc apologises to those injured in clashes with police, comments welcomed by Washington.

Two major trade unions launch a two-day strike in support of the protesters.

"Turkey is not a second-class democracy," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reportedly tells US Secretary of State John Kerry in a phone call.

- June 5: Thousands of striking teachers, doctors and bank staff pack the streets of Turkish cities, calling for Erdogan&39;s resignation.

Protest representatives meet with Arinc in Ankara. They urge a ban on using tear gas and demand the sacking of certain police chiefs.

- June 6: The private NTV news channel says a policeman died a day earlier after injuring himself in a fall while chasing protesters in the southern city of Adana, the third death linked to the unrest.

Violence breaks out in Ankara overnight but Istanbul witnesses its first lull in a week.

Erdogan tells reporters in Tunis there are "extremists, some of them implicated in terrorism" among the protesters. He refuses again to cancel the Gezi Park project.

The national doctors&39; union says 4,785 people have been injured in the protests, 48 of them severely.

The Turkish BIST-100 stock index closes at 75,895.26 points, a drop of more than 16% in less than two weeks.

- June 7: Erdogan calls for an "immediate end" to the demonstrations as he returns from an overseas trip, greeted by thousands of cheering supporters in Istanbul.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule, at a conference attended by Erdogan, says excessive police force against demonstrators "has no place" in a democracy, urging a "swift and transparent" probe into the abuses.

Erdogan hits back at the criticism, saying European countries would respond "harsher" to violent protests.