17 students detained after scuffle at Istanbul University between opposing groups

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Plainclothed police officers detain a student in front of Istanbul University, Oct. 24. DHA Photo

Some 17 students have been detained after politically opposing groups at Istanbul University were involved in a fight.

A fight in the university's Science Faculty broke out in the early hours of Oct. 24, resulting in a number of the students being injured and 17 of them being detained by police.

Some of the detainees were heard chanting slogans in favor of Muslim students, including “Long live Muslim students,” “We are Muslim students; insults on Muslim students will not be left unanswered,” “We respond when they insult Islam.”

Other students chanted anti-government slogans, such as “The day will come when fate will change and the AKP [the ruling Justice and Development Party] will pay back to the nation.”

Police intervened in the scuffle and took a number of detained students to the nearby Beyazıt Police Station.

Several student scuffles have occurred at Istanbul University since the academic year began in mid-September, between students in favor of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and student groups opposing them.

Police had detained 28 students after suspected members of the Muslim Youth, a fundamentalist organization that had previously expressed support for the jihadists in Syria, entered Istanbul University’s Beyazıt Campus on the morning of Oct. 9 before attacking students.

In another fight at the university, police detained 26 people and confiscated several batons and a machete on Oct. 13, after receiving a tip that another altercation may occur between members of an Islamist youth organization and students who staged demonstrations against ISIL.