section_path: Protests/20 March
section_name: 20 March
paragraph_text: 20 March
  
  Mass demonstrations broke out in several major Turkish cities. Significant protests were reported in Mamak (Ankara), Ankara, Bolu, Şişli (Istanbul), İzmir, Samsun, Manavgat (Antalya), Ayvalık (Balıkesir), Eskişehir, Mersin, Muğla, Bursa, Didim (Aydın), Adana, Denizli, Trabzon, Antalya, Çorum, Konya, Sakarya, Amasya, Giresun, Rize, Kırıkkale, and Karabük. Students and faculty from 13 Turkish universities conducted demonstrations or protest marches, including those of Istanbul University. Police intervened against the protests of Mersin, Galatasaray, Dokuz Eylül, Ankara, and Kocaeli Universities, with pepper spray, barricades, and force. The nose of a protester was broken after it was kicked by a police officer, while others were detained.
  
  The Tandoğan campus of Ankara University was surrounded with police barricades, with several students being prohibited from entering while the rest required ID access to enter. Resistance from students inside the campus led to several prohibited students being able to enter, and protesters marching on campus against the government. Following the march, the students were prohibited from leaving the campus, with attempts to take down the barricades being met with pepper spray and beatings from police. METU students started a protest march from Dormitory 5, shouting anti-government slogans. Students from Bilkent University and Hacettepe University joined the march by taking down police barricades at the METU A1 Gate. Despite the police using plastic bullets, pepper spray, and tear gas, the march continued.
  
  A mass demonstration took place outside the Embassy of Turkey in London, with members of the Workers' Party of Turkey and the Turkish Kurdish Community Solidarity Center unravelling banners protesting the restrictive acts of the Turkish government. In Germany, mass demonstrations conducted by the Turkish diaspora were reported in Berlin and Stuttgart, calling upon European states to enact greater action against the Turkish government crackdowns.
  
  Interior Minister of Turkey Ali Yerlikaya reported that over 18.6 million social media posts concerning the arrests of opposition figures appeared online by 6 a.m. on 20 March.