Harsh reactions against beating of students
Harsh reactions against beating of students
Reactions to the violent dispersal by police of several student protests heading toward Dolmabahçe Palace on Saturday have not ended yet.
A harsh response was also voiced by the leader of the Republican People’s Party, Kemal Kýlýçdaroðlu.
“Didn’t we all witness how pepper gas was used against young girls? How they were struck by batons? How they were dragged by the police? The leading party is afraid of everyone and everything. They are pressuring the people to keep their positions.” says Kýlýçdaroðlu.
University students protesting the Turkish prime minister’s meeting with university rectors at Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace on Saturday were violently beaten by police forces who also deployed pepper gas to subdue the demonstration.
The head of Istanbul Police Department Hüseyin Çapkýn said Sunday that the law had to be upheld. “Although we are sorry about using violence against protesters, everyone has to abide by the law.”
As a large group of students were traveling from the Anatolian side of Istanbul to the European side to protest the prime minister’s meeting, they were stopped by police who had apparently already identified the buses they were traveling in.
According to witnesses the police first stopped the three buses carrying about 150 university students at around 6.30 a.m. in the Istanbul neighborhood of Çamlýca.
After identification procedures, police told the students they would not allow them to enter the European side of the city. Students were detained for three hours without getting out of the buses and were then taken under the direction of police forces toward Kurtköy.
Tension between the students and police escalated when police refused to allow students to get out of the buses even when they arrived in Kurtköy. Police subdued tensions by spraying pepper gas and some students were dragged away and immediately taken into custody.
Many protesters fell after the second pepper spray and an asthmatic student fainted. She was given medical treatment by ambulance medical staff that had arrived at the scene.
According to witnesses two groups of protesters, situated on Karaköy and Akaretler streets (in front of Dolmabahçe) who also wanted to protest at Dolmabahçe, were pushed back by the police, who once more sprayed pepper gas at the protesters. The director of the Beyoðlu police department, Osman Yýldýrým, was also wounded after being beaten with flag poles by the protesters.
Meanwhile, 40 students from Kocaeli University asked to march in Ýzmit. Some of them were arrested after throwing eggs at the police.
Students gathered Saturday evening in Istanbul’s Taksim district, and asked for the police to release their detained colleagues. Protests against Saturday’s police violence were also held in the Aegean province of Ýzmir.
A harsh response was also voiced by the leader of the Republican People’s Party, Kemal Kýlýçdaroðlu.
“Didn’t we all witness how pepper gas was used against young girls? How they were struck by batons? How they were dragged by the police? The leading party is afraid of everyone and everything. They are pressuring the people to keep their positions.” says Kýlýçdaroðlu.
University students protesting the Turkish prime minister’s meeting with university rectors at Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace on Saturday were violently beaten by police forces who also deployed pepper gas to subdue the demonstration.
The head of Istanbul Police Department Hüseyin Çapkýn said Sunday that the law had to be upheld. “Although we are sorry about using violence against protesters, everyone has to abide by the law.”
As a large group of students were traveling from the Anatolian side of Istanbul to the European side to protest the prime minister’s meeting, they were stopped by police who had apparently already identified the buses they were traveling in.
According to witnesses the police first stopped the three buses carrying about 150 university students at around 6.30 a.m. in the Istanbul neighborhood of Çamlýca.
After identification procedures, police told the students they would not allow them to enter the European side of the city. Students were detained for three hours without getting out of the buses and were then taken under the direction of police forces toward Kurtköy.
Tension between the students and police escalated when police refused to allow students to get out of the buses even when they arrived in Kurtköy. Police subdued tensions by spraying pepper gas and some students were dragged away and immediately taken into custody.
Many protesters fell after the second pepper spray and an asthmatic student fainted. She was given medical treatment by ambulance medical staff that had arrived at the scene.
According to witnesses two groups of protesters, situated on Karaköy and Akaretler streets (in front of Dolmabahçe) who also wanted to protest at Dolmabahçe, were pushed back by the police, who once more sprayed pepper gas at the protesters. The director of the Beyoðlu police department, Osman Yýldýrým, was also wounded after being beaten with flag poles by the protesters.
Meanwhile, 40 students from Kocaeli University asked to march in Ýzmit. Some of them were arrested after throwing eggs at the police.
Students gathered Saturday evening in Istanbul’s Taksim district, and asked for the police to release their detained colleagues. Protests against Saturday’s police violence were also held in the Aegean province of Ýzmir.
