Turkish police detain 33 demonstrators protesting hunger-striking educators’ imprisonment

ISTANBUL

Police have detained a total of 33 people at a protest carried out in support of two jailed educators who have been on hunger strikes for nearly 150 days. 

A group of demonstrators gathered in front of the Süreyya Opera House in Istanbul’s Kadıköy and demanded academic Nuriye Gülmen and primary school teacher Semih Özakça to be released from jail. 

The group chanted slogans and carried banner reading, “Nuriye and Semih are not alone.” 

Police warned protestors to end their demonstration, but dispersed them after the group continued.

A total of 33 people were detained and 32 of them were released a short while after. 

Gülmen and Özakça launched hunger strikes with a demand to be reinstated to jobs from which they were dismissed in state of emergency decrees, along with thousands of others.

They were arrested on the 75th day of their hunger strike in May and protests for their release have been ongoing in Ankara and Istanbul ever since.

The authorities have repeatedly claimed that the educators are members of the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).