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Dozens under house arrest in Istanbul after university protests

Istanbul (Turkey), Feb 19 (EFE / EPA) .- (Camera: Sedat Suna) About 530 people were arrested in 38 different cities between January 4 and February 4 in connection with the protests at Bogazici University, according to the Turkish Interior Ministry. Some of the detained protesters were sentenced to house arrest during protests against the new rector of the Istanbul university, appointed by decree by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.FOOTAGE OF THE SOME UNDER HOUSE ARREST.Translation of the detained:1.- BARAN DOGAN: “My name is Baran, I am a theatre instructor. I consider the appointment of Melih Bulu to be an assault on science and the future. Science is not governed by politics, so these protests and the reaction of the students was correct in my opinion. I attended the protests in Kadiköy. During the press release, there was no warning from the riot police and there was no tension between the students and the police. As students shouted a slogan right after the press release, riot police surrounded us. We were detained within ten seconds by the police. We were surrounded by people, they crowded us into police vans. Many of us were brought in without masks. They kept us in vans for hours without a mask. I don't know why 23 out of 94 people were arrested. We didn't do anything different from our other friends. They said that we would go to the prosecution with a request for judicial control from the police station. After the arrest there was a strange situation at the police station; Without any confrontation with a judge, and without the defence of a lawyer, the judge sentenced us to house arrest. We had no information about it. When I was released at midnight, one of my friends told me: "you have been sentenced to house arrest." I faced this situation in awe. Because I still don't understand how they made such a decision without even looking at the prosecutor or the judge in the face. As you can see, I am under house arrest. "2.- MELIH AKÜREK: “The ruling party is trying to marginalize academics and workers who are not from Bogaziçi University by saying:" What are you doing here? " The ruling party says: "This is not your case, why does it concern you?" And they show some images saying that they are not from Bogaziçi University. We do not need to belong there to be a part, be the subject of any event, be in solidarity or support of their fight. Just as we don't need to be animals to defend animal rights, we don't need to be a tree to defend the environment.(...)They call us bandits. This is our motto indeed. We will be there, if any mountain has blues. It was the Soma disaster, the Corlu Train massacre, Suruc, Ankara ... in the past. Our hearts are buried there. Today if there is any resistance or abuse of rights in Bogazici, we will be next to the people who are asking for solidarity. We will be with them. They will see us there if similar things happen elsewhere. We will not give up because of isolations and sanctions. They cannot take away our solidarity. We will walk and fight together. "3.- CIHAT PARILTI: “I had been following Bogazici's protests for some time on social media. Then, a video came out, that of the "Look down" [supposedly a police order given to the students, later denied by the police]. Watching this video made me nervous: telling the kids who study at the best university in Turkey to look, but who do you think you are? I went to Kadiköy to give the kids some motivation. We are not afraid of the police, we are not afraid of anyone. Our rights, well we must express them. I went to be next to these kids, that's it for me. I went and they arrested me, that's all ”.