Police detain 38 students during night raid at occupied Ege University building in İzmir

İZMİR

Riot police were deployed to the three-storey building at around 1 a.m., reinforced by a police helicopter, to break the occupation. DHA Photo

Thirty-eight people were detained in a nighttime police raid of Ege University’s Foreign Languages Faculty building in the western province of İzmir.

The building had been occupied by students on May 22, according to Doğan News Agency. The students denounced police presence at the university and also protested the recent mining disaster in Soma, the death of the 15-year-old Gezi victim Berkin Elvan last March, and the shooting of a mourner during clashes in Istanbul on May 22.

“Our right to protest is being restrained. We demand that the police move out of the campus,” said one student, Serdar Gür.

Riot police were deployed to the three-storey building at around 1 a.m., reinforced by a police helicopter, to break the occupation.

Police used tear gas against a group of students who climbed onto the building’s roof. One student was reported injured during the raid.

Police replaced private security firms in Turkish universities at the beginning of the academic year, following an order from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.