VIDEO: Islamists attack students protesting ISIL at Istanbul University

ISTANBUL

The masked attackers were filmed attacking with sticks studded with nails. DHA video capture

One person was injured on Sept. 26 after a group of jihadist sympathizers attacked students who had opened a stand at Istanbul University to denounce the brutality of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The masked attackers, who were filmed attacking with sticks studded with nails inside a foyer in one of the school’s buildings, were allegedly affiliated to the Muslim Youth organization.

One student was apparently injured in the head by a soda bottle allegedly hurled by the attackers.

The assailants, three of whom were reportedly detained after the attack, also tore down a pancard that said “ISIL, get out of the Middle East.”

In response, hundreds of students began staging a counterprotest against the pro-ISIL assault in front of the university's science faculty.

Students at the university issued a press statement after the attack, saying, "As university students, we had come together to stop the murderers with blood on their hands and the ISIL gang, which has murdered children and raped women in Rojava and Kobane, when a 20-person group sporting black masks attacked us with sticks studded with nails."

The students also accused university security and the police of doing nothing to halt the attack. "We know where they get their power from. The AKP [ruling Justice and Development Party] is sending truckloads of guns to the ISIL gangs to murder people in Rojava, and if it is providing all manners of support to those committing massacres, then this attack cannot be separated from the AKP's policies."