Students across Turkey boycotted classes on Feb. 13 to demand secular, scientific and mother-tongue education in the country’s school system in the face of creeping conservatism at the hands of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

As part of the boycott, which was called by left-wing teachers’ union Eğitim-Sen and several Alevi organizations, students organized marches and alternative classes in areas around the country.

The opposition United June Movement (BHH) and Peoples Houses (Halkevleri) are organizing the boycott in dozens of cities.

Police moved to detain many people participating in the boycott, with several Halkevi members being taken into custody in Ankara for hanging a banner. In Istanbul, eight people were also detained in the city’s Gülsuyu neighborhood for calling on people to boycott classes. Elsewhere, police attacked marchers in İzmir with water cannon, detaining 10.

The action comes on the back of a large rally called by Alevi groups and Eğitim-Sen on Feb. 8 in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district to protest the AKP’s increasing injection of conservative religious themes into the nation’s curriculum, exemplified especially by mandatory religious classes that aim to inculcate an understanding of Islam from a Sunni perspective.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has consistently said he wishes to raise a “pious generation” of youth.

Ahead of the boycott, police detained scores of people across the country, with senior BHH official Onur Kılıç detained in İzmir for chanting, “Thief, murderer Erdoğan” during a related protest. The İzmir Governor’s Office also instructed school officials in the Aegean province to report on teachers, students and guardians participating in the boycott.

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