Police intervention against housing protests: 90 students released from detention

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The Barınamıyoruz Hareketi (We Cannot Find Housing / Shelter Movement) announced that they would gather in the capital city of Ankara yesterday (December 12) and protest the insufficient dorm capacities and high housing prices in Turkey with the slogan "Walk with the Youth".

However, the vehicles of the movement were intercepted by police officers at the entrance to the city earlier yesterday.

In a statement released yesterday, the Governor's Office of Ankara announced that the protest demonstration to be held by the movement was banned on the grounds that it was allegedly in violation of the Law no. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations. Several students coming from various cities were not allowed to arrive in Ankara as a result of the ban.

In a message shared on the social media account of the movement, it was said, "We have been intercepted at the entrance to Ankara. There is apparently an instruction to not let us, the ones who cannot find shelter, in Ankara. Just as we all together said, 'Walk with the youth' yesterday, we call on you to say 'Open the way for the youth'. We won't go back."

The movement first announced that 10 people were taken into custody. This number then increased to 90, according to the movement. The detained students have been released from detention.

Bir kez daha Ankara'dayız! Gözaltı sayımız 90'ı aştı!

Ankara'da her sokaktan Ulus Meydanı'na yürüyen arkadaşlarımız var. Biz size "Gözaltına alınmakla bitmeyiz" demiştik!

Barınamayan milyonlarız, buradayız. Herkesi bizimle dayanışmaya davet ediyoruz. #GençlereYoluAç pic.twitter.com/ntqOUzItwl

— Barınamıyoruz Hareketi (@barinamayanlar) December 12, 2021

Governor's Office 'didn't approve'

The Governor's Office of Ankara released a statement yesterday and said that the protest of the young "was not approved".

Citing the Articles 17 and 22 of the Law no. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations, the Governor's Office of Ankara stated that "the protest demonstration was not approved in terms of ensuring peace and security, personal inviolability, security concerning the possession of an absolute right, public welfare and fulfillment of the duty of preventive law enforcement."

10'u ağır darp edilerek olmak üzere 30'a yakın kişi gözaltına alındık. Yüzlerimize, boyunlarımıza tekmeyle vurdular, bir arkadaşımızın kolu kırıldı. Bunlarla mı bizi yolumuzdan vazgeçireceğinizi sanıyorsunuz? Yanıldığınızı göreceksiniz!

Video: Nebiye Arı#GençlereYoluAç pic.twitter.com/Wmw5VKZZ0H

— Barınamıyoruz Hareketi (@barinamayanlar) December 12, 2021

(RT/SD)