Turkish police have fired tear gas to disperse angry demonstrators protesting outside Ankara University against the dismissal of dozens of academics.
On Friday, police also used rubber bullets to disperse students, teachers, civic society representatives and some opposition legislators who gathered outside the prestigious university in the Turkish capital to denounce a government decree that dismissed 330 academics.
A series of brawls erupted as police forced people away from the campus entrances. Turkish police detained at least a dozen protesters.
The demonstrators chanted slogans against the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP). "AKP will be held accountable" and "shoulder-to-shoulder against fascism" were among the chants.
Police also blocked the entrance of up to 1,000 people who had tried to gather at the campus and on the surrounding streets.
Dozens of academics at the university were sacked this week over suspected links to Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric who Ankara accuses of having masterminded the coup attempt of July 2016. Gulen rejects the charge.
They are among more than 4,400 largely civil servants dismissed as part of a nationwide crackdown following the failed coup.
The government in Ankara has launched the crackdown on those believed to have played a role in the coup attempt.
More than 125,000 people including military personnel, judges and teachers, have been suspended, dismissed or detained as part of the post-coup crackdown. Security forces have formally arrested 40,000 people.
International rights groups argue that Ankara’s crackdown has gone far beyond the so-called Gulenists and targeted Kurds as well as government critics in general.
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