Police crackdown on students of the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) continues since some 3,000 trees have been destroyed by the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality on the night of 18 October, the last day of the Feast of Sacrifice holiday.

Clashes erupted on the campus on Monday evening as people gathered to protest the removal of trees as part of a controversial road project crossing through the ODTÜ campus.

Police used intense tear gas and pressure water, trying to disperse the crowd waiting on the campus since the morning. Demonstrators planted five thousand new trees in the construction area after the trees were cut down by Ankara municipality's workers escorted by police teams.

Three students were taken into custody during the brutal police intervention.

In a statement on ODTÜ protests, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said on Monday that "there is an attempt to set up incidents like the Gezi Park protests.”