Turkish police have released all of the nearly 400 activists detained during a banned Pride march in Istanbul, organisers said on Monday.
Although homosexuality has been legal throughout the period of the modern Turkish republic, Istanbul Pride has been banned since a 2014 parade drew tens of thousands of participants in one of the biggest LGBTQ events in the majority Muslim region.
Kaos GL Association, which campaigns to promote the human rights of LGBTQ people against discrimination, said on Twitter that all 373 people detained by police on Sunday have been released, many of them “after a night in custody”.
The detention began even before the banned rally’s start, with riot police raiding cafes and streets in a scenic district of Istanbul near Taksim Square where the event was to be held, according to an AFP team.
Those detained included an AFP photographer, who was released late on Sunday.
Police prevented the media from filming the Istanbul arrests, according to AFP journalists.
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, had urged Turkish officials to let the the march to go ahead and to ensure the safety of the marchers.
“The human rights of LGBTI people in Turkey need to be effectively protected,” she said in a statement.
(AFP)
Turkish police detain over 200 at Pride march — organizers
The LGBTQ march in Istanbul had been banned by Turkish officials, who said it might lead to unrest. But a crowd still gathered near the city's Taksim Square.
LGBTQ activists said they were not intimidated by the clampdown
Turkish police detained more than 200 participants at an LGBTQ Pride march in Istanbul on Sunday, organizers said.
Local authorities in Istanbul's Beyoglu district banned Pride Week events between June 20-26, saying that they could lead to public unrest. The event has been officially banned every year since 2015, but crowd still gather near the city's Taksim Square to mark the end of the Pride Month.
What happened at the march?
Authorities cordoned off large parts of the city's central Cihangir neighborhood ahead of the march. Public transportation in the area was also shut down.
Local residents banged pots and pans from their windows and balconies in a show of support for marchers.
According to the MLSA lawyers' association, Agence France-Press photographer Bülent Kilinc was among those detained.
Journalists' union DISK Basin-Is said "many" participants in the march were beaten by police.
LGBTQ activist organization Kaos GL published a video from the event on Twitter.
"We do not give up, we are not afraid! We will continue our activities in safe places and online," pride week organizers said.
Pride events banned
Turkey's first pride march was held in 2003, the year after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's conservative AKP party came to power. Istanbul authorities banned the event more than ten years later.
The Turkish government has adopted a harsh approach to pride events, and police have made large numbers of arrests and have used tear gas and plastic pellets.
Demonstrations by nationalists and Islamists have also threatened participants.
sdi/dj (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)
Turkish authorities arrest more than 200 at banned Pride march in Istanbul
Issued on: 26/06/2022 -
Turkish police on Sunday broke up a banned Pride march in Istanbul, detaining more than 200 demonstrators and an AFP photographer, journalists and organisers reported.
The governor's office had forbidden the march around Taksim Square in the heart of Istanbul, but protesters gathered nearby under heavy police presence earlier than scheduled.
Police detained protesters, loading them on to buses. AFP journalists saw four busloads of detained people, including AFP's chief photographer Bulent Kilic.
Kilic, who was taken away handcuffed from the back, was being held in police custody. He was also detained during last year's Pride march.
Police prevented the press from filming the Istanbul arrests, according to AFP journalists.
Turkey's largest city has banned the march since 2015, but large crowds nonetheless gather every year to mark the end of Pride Month. Organizers called the ban unlawful.
“We do not give up, we are not afraid! We will continue our activities in safe places and online,” the Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week Committee said on Twitter.
Kaos GL, a prominent LGBTQ group, said shortly before the march’s 5 pm (1400 GMT) start that 52 people had been detained. The Pride Week Committee later said more than 100 had been arrested.
There was no immediate word on the number of arrests from the police or the governor’s office.
Images on social media showed people being frisked and loaded onto buses, including at least one news photographer. Journalists' union DISK Basin-Is said “many” were beaten by police.
Local residents banged pots and pans from their windows and balconies in a show of support for the marchers as a police helicopter circled overhead.
Metal fences and lines of riot officers cordoned off streets around Taksim Square and Istiklal Avenue in the Beyoglu district, the heart of the city’s shopping and tourism sectors, as well as a traditional gathering point for protesters.
Metro services around Taksim Square were shut down for hours ahead of the march.
Turkey previously was one of the few Muslim-majority countries to allow Pride marches. The first was held in 2003, the year after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party came to power.
In recent years, the government has adopted a harsh approach to public events by groups that do not represent its religiously conservative views. Large numbers of arrests and the use of tear gas and plastic pellets by police have accompanied Pride events.
Counter-demonstrations by nationalists and Islamists, who claim the LGBTQ community is a danger to “Turkish values,” have also threatened marchers.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
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