Islamists Attack Students in Istanbul: 5 Injured

Students handing out flyers near the Istanbul University Beyazit campus were attacked with sticks and bottles when they criticised the AKP. 5 students were injured.

Bawer Çakır

Members of the Istanbul Students’ Collective were handing out information about a planned protest in front of the Greater Istanbul Municipality yesterday (1 April). They were then attacked by a group which called itself “religious”.

The attack happened at around 12.30 pm and one of the five injured students had to be taken to hospital.

Attack by AKP supporters

The attacked students told bianet that they were handing out information about a planned protest the day before when they were threatened by a group of self-labelled “religious” people. They were told not to hand out any more flyers.

The threatening group had taken issue with a sentence in the flyer, which read, “The sects and religious communities of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) have created reactionary attitudes in society.”

Despite the threats, the collective members handed out flyers in front of the canteen of Istanbul University’s Beyazit campus yesterday. Then the group who had threatened them attacked them with bottles and sticks.

At 13.30 pm, the students held a press briefing in front of the Faculty of Letters, condemning the attack.

Around 100 students participated in the briefing. The students said that the attackers were from the AKP.

Following the briefing, the group walked to the municipality building, shouting slogans.

The Turkish Communist Party (TKP) condemned the attack in a written statement and said it would continue its struggle against the AKP. (BÇ/AG)