Following the protests against the appointment of a trustee rector to Boğaziçi University on January 4th, 19 more students were detained on the allegation of “opposing the Law No. 2911” and “resisting a duty officer”. The number of students detained since the morning of January 5th has reached 36.

Using the hashtag  #YaHepBeraberYaHiçbirimiz (either all together or none of us), Boğaziçi Solidarity called students, artists, parliamentarians and anyone willing to meet under the slogan “No to the trustee” to support the protest to be held today at 16:00 at Rıhtım, Kadıköy. Also, hundreds of students from Boğaziçi university met at 12:00 in front of the Rectorate Building.

The Governorship of Istanbul banned all kinds of meetings, demonstrations and marches in Beşiktaş and Sarıyer districts this morning on the grounds that “it may adversely affect the efforts to protect the society from the pandemic and to prevent the spread of the pandemic.” Strict measures were taken around the university premises in the morning.

Boğaziçi students who are studying in different universities around Turkey and who cannot be in Istanbul today due to the pandemic, will carry out simultaneous protests to strengthen the protest.. Students continue to  boycott  their courses .

What  Happened?

Students’ homes were raided in the morning of January 5th, the day after they participated in the protests against the appointment of a trustee rector to Boğaziçi University and they were detained. It was reported that 3 students were strip searched and threatened with rape during the detentions. It was also reported that the detention period for the students was increased to 4 days and the detained students have started a hunger strike.

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