Police crack down on ODTÜ students’ Berkin Elvan protest in Ankara

ANKARA

Police continued to fire tear gas and water cannon inside the leafy area of the campus as students dispersed.

The protest held in the campus of Ankara's Middle Eastern Technical University’s (ODTÜ) over the death of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan was severely suppressed by police on March 11.

Hundreds of students peacefully marched from the campus to the center of the Turkish capital along a busy artery, but police fired water cannons and tear gas at the group from the opposite side of the road.

Many passing drivers were affected in the crackdown.

As students dispersed and ran back, police continued to fire tear gas and water cannon inside the leafy area of the campus.

Some students were also beaten by police with batons, witnesses reported on social media.

Berkin Elvan died early March 11, after 269 days in a coma due to a head injury from a gas canister as he went to buy bread last June during a police crackdown on Gezi Park protesters.

Elvan’s case caused outraged among anti-government protesters, converting him one of the symbols of police violence.