Turkish police used a water cannon and tear gas against crowds of protesters in Istanbul on Saturday, a Reuters cameraman at the scene said, in an attempt to block them from marching to the office of an opposition newspaper whose staff had been arrested.

The protest in central Istanbul came hours after Turkish authorities ordered the formal arrest of nine staff members of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper and detained more pro-Kurdish officials, widening an anti-terrorism probe that has drawn condemnation from the West.

On Friday, the co-leaders of the pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) — the country's third-largest political party — were also jailed pending trial.

Tear gas filled some streets in the Sisli neighbourhood of Istanbul, another Reuters reporter near the scene said, while police helicopters were heard buzzing overhead.

Riot police use water cannons to disperse people protesting in Istanbul on Saturday. (Cagdas Erdogan/Associated Press)

Prosecutors said staff at the paper, one of the few still critical of President Tayyip Erdogan, were suspected of crimes committed on behalf of Kurdish militants and U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of instigating a coup attempt. They were first detained on Monday.

Since the failed coup in July, more than 110,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants have been detained or suspended in a crackdown that Erdogan's critics say is quashing legitimate opposition.

"The international community is outraged. What are you trying to do? Are you trying to create a Turkey where everyone is in jail?" said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP).

"What has the Cumhuriyet newspaper done? Have they planted bombs somewhere?"