ISTANBUL: Turkish police fired tear gas on Tuesday and chased people down narrow Istanbul streets as weeks of student protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan witnessed some of their heaviest clashes to date.

Turkey has been hit by rallies across major campuses since Erdogan decided to name a party loyalist as the head of Istanbul’s exclusive Bogazici University.

Police detained 159 students after storming a protest staged inside the fenced-off campus. Reporters saw plain clothes police drag away dozens of students when they tried to march along a street in the capital.

Using anti-riot shields, police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of around 1,000 people — some carrying LGBT rainbow flags in support of past detainees — when they tried to stage a demonstration on the Asian side of Istanbul.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2021