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Turkish students continue protests despite arrests, Erdogan’s accusations

University students in Turkey continue their protests for access to dorms and affordable rentals, despite police pressure and Erdogan’s denial of a dorm problem.
Students sit in for affordable housing in Izmir, Turkey, on Sept. 28, 2021.

IZMIR — On the eighth day of their protests alongside other students for available dorms and rentals, Beril Sengul and several of her friends were hauled away from their sit-in at a park in Izmir and taken to a police station.

“We were released in the morning,” Sengul, a student from Ege University, told GainTV on Sept. 29, the day after the detention. “We will not back down, because our requests are sensible. We need more state dorms because the present number does not meet our needs. … We were simply sitting in the park in a peaceful gathering; we do not know what reason the police had to detain us.”

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