Police officers attempted to detain university students who sang a song on a ferry criticizing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s authoritarian policies and calling on people to say “No” in an upcoming referendum on constitutional amendments extending Erdoğan’s power, while they were leaving a ferry dock in İstanbul on Monday.
According to the Kollektifler.net news portal, passengers who supported students’ protest by applauding prevented their detention.
Following the song, students asked people to vote ‘No’ when they were asked in the referendum in April to approve constitutional amendments paving way for a switch from a parliamentary to a presidential system of governance.
According to Kollektifler.net, police came to the Beşiktaş-Kadıköy ferry dock to detain students after some passengers complained that students “defamed the president.”
This article originally appeared in Turkish Minute on Jan. 25
