High school students detained in Istanbul in anti-government protest

ISTANBUL

Istanbul police on June 8 detained 21 high school students who gathered in the city’s Kadıköy district to launch an anti-government protest. 

Several leftist student groups called for a rally in Kadıköy’s central Bahariye Avenue in front of the historic Sürreyya Opera building on the day that marked the beginning of the long summer holiday.

The theme of the protest was “The report cards are yours, but the future is ours.”

When the students attempted to march on the avenue, police tried to prevent them from holding the rally and called on the students to end the protest.

When the students refused, the police intervened, detaining 21 one of them, according to Tamer Doğan, the lawyer of the students.

Video footages that showed the students being roughed up inside a police bus widely circulated on social media.

The students were first sent to hospital for medical examination and to a nearby police station.

Several deputies from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Kurdish issue-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) went to the police station where the students were held to get information about the detainees.

The students were later released.