STUDENTS in the Turkish capital Ankara were blockaded by police today as officers swooped to clear a protest camp resisting the destruction of a forest area at the Middle East Technical University.

The demonstrating students were joined by academics as the authorities moved in to forcibly disperse the area, using pepper spray as they destroyed the tents that have been protecting the forest from being chopped down for the last 55 days.

The protesters are angry at the clearing of the trees to make way for a new university dormitory, insisting that the land should be protected from “environmental destruction.”

There is a forested area of 3,043 hectares at the university which has significance for Turkey’s revolutionary left, with trees originally planted by leading figures including Mahir Cayan and Deniz Gezmis. This has made it a constant target for the Turkish state. 

They warned of plans to impose the ruling Justice and Development Party’s ideology, using the dormitory as a “Trojan horse” to demolish the university from the inside.

People’s Democratic Party parliamentarian Murat Cepni was among those present at the protests, which heard demands for the resignation of university rector Versan Kok for his role in the scandal.

“We are outside the police barricade,” he told the Mesopotamian news agency. “There are students and lecturers here … we want the barricade removed and the police pulled out.

“The cops just attacked the students trying to get inside the blockade. It is very intense around here.”

In a statement, the students vowed to continue their resistance.

“They destroyed thousands of lives, attacked our trees, but we will not let them build this dormitory,” the group said.

In May 2013, plans to chop down trees near Istanbul’s Taksim Square led to the Gezi Park uprising.

A violent police response left 22 people dead and more than 8,000 injured. Related protests across Turkey lasted for three months.