Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday issued a "last warning" for thousands of protesters to evacuate an Istanbul park at the centre of mass anti-government unrest after offering to hold a referendum on plans to redevelop the site.

"I'm making my last warning: mothers, fathers please withdraw your kids from there," Erdogan said in a live television broadcast. "Gezi Park does not belong to occupying forces. It belongs to everybody."