At least 17 students protesting the appointment of a member of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party to head one of the nation’s top universities by presidential decree were arrested in dawn police sweeps Tuesday and subjected to physical violence and threats, lawyers say. Images of the raided homes showed doors ripped out and broken walls.
The students are being held at the anti-terror directorate of Istanbul’s Vatan police headquarters on charges of resisting arrest, violating laws governing the right to march and demonstrate and having links to terror groups. Rights groups describe the arrests as part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's systematic campaign to intimidate dissenters, suffocate free expression and strip academia of its independence.