Students protest Council of Higher Education: 11 detained

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University students in İstanbul and Ankara, the capital, held demonstrations yesterday (November 8) to protest the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK).

Having surrounded Ankara University's Cebeci Campus hours before the students' protest, police battered many students and detained 11 of them.

Police officers also prevented journalists from filming the events.

Students and academics at İstanbul University's Beyazıt Campus also protested the YÖK's anniversary.

Releasing a statement, the University Solidarity said the existence of the YÖK is one of the most important problems for the students with "torture and detention of students, unpermitted student club events, closed student clubs, and sexist and homophobic academics."

The YÖK was founded by the then military government on November 6, 1981. (AÖ/VK)