06/30/2024 – 15:18
Turkish police detained at least 15 protesters in Istanbul on Sunday (30) for taking part in a banned LGBT Pride demonstration, after searching the streets and arriving at the scene after participants had dispersed, a witness told Reuters. Police declined to comment.
The Istanbul Governor’s Office said earlier on Sunday that the Pride Parade would not be allowed. Turkish police blocked off central Istanbul to prevent the march from taking place, closing metro stations and blocking traffic on main streets.
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President Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party has hardened its rhetoric against the LGBT community in the past decade and has banned pride parades since 2015, citing “security reasons”.
The Istanbul Governor’s Office classified the organizations that called for the Pride Parade as illegal.
Following the ban, LGBT groups gathered in another part of Istanbul on the Asian side, with a representative reading a statement that said: “We never tire of deceiving the police and forcing them to deal with us.”
“You closed all the streets and squares, you interrupted the life of an entire city, but you forgot that we will break through the stone and find each other if necessary.”
Police searched the streets for protesters and detained at least 15 people, the witness told Reuters.
(Reporting by Dilara Senkaya, writing by Ece Toksabay)
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