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Istanbul Pride suppressed
In Istanbul, police violently suppressed a Pride March scheduled for Sunday, June 29, in the center of the Turkish megacity, with riot police using tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.
“Istanbul's Pride March, scheduled for Sunday, June 29”
According to Yıldız Tar, editor-in-chief of the LGBTQ+ organization and media Kaos GL, 54 people were detained, including six lawyers who had come to provide legal assistance, and by Sunday evening only seven had been released.
The Association STOP homophobie said the DISK trade union confederation also reported that at least three journalists were among those arrested, and it said several other reporters covering the event were assaulted.
Europe 1 described protesters carrying rainbow flags who chanted slogans denouncing 'the fascism' of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Islamist-conservative regime, as police cordoned off the area and forcefully charged the crowd using rubber bullets in places.
Detentions and chants
France 24 reported that Turkish police detained at least 50 people, including a journalist, during a LGBTQ+ Pride event in Istanbul that went ahead despite a ban by local authorities.
The Turkish Journalists' Union said one of those detained was Muberra Unsal, who holds a valid press card, and it said: "Despite repeatedly identifying herself as a journalist, Unsal was also taken into custody."
Organisers said police stepped up security around Taksim Square with iron barriers, while local officials banned demonstrations in key rallying areas including the Asian-side district of Kadikoy, and the governor's office restricted subway transport in several central locations.
Protesters vowed to continue their demonstrations, chanting: "My love, today isn't over yet. In fact, we're just getting started. We're not giving up. We'll keep taking to the streets from every corner we're in," while the Istanbul Bar Association unfurled a banner reading: "LGBT is human rights".
Broader repression and calls
Amnesty International France said that since 2015, Pride marches have been systematically banned in Turkey and that authorities imposed general bans and discriminatory restrictions on Pride marches during Pride season 2023.
“"The draconian restrictions, disproportionate violence, and official hateful rhetoric we witnessed last year must not be repeated."”
It said authorities resorted to unjustified and arbitrary force that, in some cases, amounted to torture, and it warned that "The draconian restrictions, disproportionate violence, and official hateful rhetoric we witnessed last year must not be repeated."
In Istanbul, tv5monde reported that even before the gathering began, riot police conducted a heavy-handed raid in several bars in the Cihangir district around Taksim Square and randomly arrested people there, including journalists and LGBTQ+ activists.
tv5monde quoted Diren, 22, saying: "They try to ban us, to stop us, to discriminate against us and even to kill us at every moment of our existence," and it reported that Amnesty International called for the unconditional and immediate release of those arrested after Kaos GL tallied "52 arrests," including an AFP photographer.