Police clash with students over campus reconstruction plans in Ankara

Police in Turkey clashed with students protesting against reconstruction plans in 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, press tv reported. The clashes erupted on Saturday 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.