Students are protesting outside Bogazici University in Istanbul.
Photographer: Ozan Kose / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Ozan Kose / AFP / Getty Images
Heavy metal band Metallica’s music provided the soundtrack when students in Istanbul protested President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to impose a loyalist as head of a prestigious university.
Songs like “Master of Puppets” and “Sad But True” blazed through speakers on the Bogazici University campus on Wednesday as students demanded the resignation of the new president, Metallica fan Melih Bulu.
Bulu, a reigning AK Party activist, was appointed this weekend. The musical dig followed a TV interview Tuesday in which he said he has no intention of turning the university’s culture upside down.
“I’m a principal who listens to hard rock, to Metallica,” he said.
If the band’s music has become the soundtrack to the protests, then the image of police officers handcuffing a university gate has become their iconic image. Police have detained dozens of protesters since Tuesday and raided the homes of several protesters.