Police crack down on ODTÜ continues

ANKARA | 07- 09- 2013 |Early Friday morning, police attacked students of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) protesting against the construction of an 8-lane highway that is planned to cut through their campus. The police attack targeted a group of students who have been on guard duty to prevent the felling of trees on the campus since the construction works began on August 25.

The ODTÜ Rector’s Office said in a written statement 4 September that around 3,000 trees would be affected inside the campus due to the controversial project.

The police attack and the detention of some 15 people in the morning drew strong reactions from not only students but also the local people living in the area. Students gathered once again during the afternoon to protest the morning’s attack and detentions. Police once again used tear gas to quell the protesters on the campus. Among those supporting students on the campus were Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies Hüseyin Aygün, İlhan Cihaner and Aylin Nazlıaka. Deputies stood in front of the construction vehicles to halt the road construction and warned the site chief that the work was unlawful.

The family of Ethem Sarısülük, Gezi protestor who was killed in the Turkish capital by police in June, was also on the campus today in solidarity with the struggle of students. “I do not want children to die” said Ethem Sarısülük’s mother.

As more and more people joined the protest in the area in the afternoon, a large number of people gathered in the district of 100.Yıl and staged a march to the campus in the evening, chanting the slogan “Everywhere ODTÜ, everywhere resistance”. As the police presence intensified in the campus area during the protest, students laid a barricade in front of the main gate A4.

As was expected, police attacked protestors soon later, using intense tear gas and rubber bullets. Students responded to the police attack with stones, chanting the slogan addressing to policemen; “You need wisdom to enter ODTÜ, not helmets”.

Police dispersed the demonstrators around for a short time as they gathered and turned back to the area after a while later, growing the resistance against police forces.

Police are claimed to have deliberately started fire in the forested area. It was students who extinguished the fire.

Dozens of people were wounded in the brutal police crackdown, including daily Hürriyet photo reporter Rıza Özel who was injured after being hit in the leg by a rubber bullet fired by the police while escaping from the crackdown with the students. Özel was also struck by a stone on the head. Some of the wounded are reported to be in critical situation.

The police attack also drew reactions from across the country, with thousands of people taking to the streets in the evening in solidarity with the ODTÜ resistance. Solidarity demos were staged in İzmir, Adana and Istanbul where mass protests were staged in the neighborhoods of Beşiktaş, Maltepe, Kadıköy, Gazi and Taksim. They chanted the slogan Everywhere ODTÜ, everywhere resistance” and called on the ruling AKP government to resign.

After police blockaded the protestors marching to the main Taksim Square, the crowd started sit-in-act in front of Galatasary High School. Police attacked the demonstrators here, once again using rubber bullets and intense tear gas.

A mass demo in Istanbul has been organized on social media after the police crackdown on ODTÜ campus. Thousands are expected to gather at Taksim Square at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

People in Mersin, Çanakkale, Eskişehir, Adana, Antalya and İzmit will also take to the streets in solidarity with the resistance of ODTÜ students who will also gather in 100.Yıl neighborhood in the afternoon today.

(ANF)