Turkish police use force against students

Police in Turkey have clashed with students protesting against reconstruction plans on their university campus in the capital, Ankara.

Turkish police forces fired smoke grenades and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of students from the Middle East Technical University (METU) on Saturday.

The clashes erupted when the protesters set up barricades and hurled stones at the police.

The students are opposed to the municipality’s plan to build a road by uprooting a large number of trees on the campus.

Reports say around 3,000 trees would be affected inside the campus due to the controversial project.

A day earlier, at least 14 people were arrested during a similar demonstration in the campus, one of the largest green spaces in Ankara.

In June, a peaceful sit-in to save Istanbul’s central Gezi Park from being razed prompted a violent police response.

Several people were killed and thousands injured after the protests spiraled into nationwide demos against the government.

The United Nations’ human rights office said Turkey must conduct a far-reaching, independent probe on its security forces’ treatment of anti-government protesters who have taken to the streets across the country.