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Arrest on the sidelines of the Pride parade in Istanbul: "The police really chased the demonstrators"
Photo:
UMIT BEKTAS / REUTERS
According to the organizers, the Turkish police arrested more than 200 participants at an officially banned Pride parade in Istanbul on Sunday.
In addition to activists, those arrested included AFP photographer Bülent Kilic and other journalists, a team from the news agency reported on Sunday.
The governor of Istanbul banned the Pride parade.
Hundreds of protesters with rainbow flags nevertheless gathered in the streets around Taksim Square, which was closed to the public.
They defied the police and marched through the streets of Cihangir neighborhood for about an hour.
They shouted »The future is queer!« and »You are not alone!«.
According to the AFP team, the police had arrested people indiscriminately, including journalists, in several bars in Cihangir before the start of the parade.
According to several eyewitnesses, the police tried to prevent members of the press from filming the arrests.
AFP photographer Kilic was arrested in the same circumstances last year.
Under the motto »Resistance«, various associations had called for the parade entitled »March of Pride«.
Among other things, they criticized an increasing LGBTQ-hostile climate in the country.
In addition to the march, other events as part of the so-called Pride Week were also prohibited.
Berlin-based activist Liana Georgi, who lives in Istanbul, told the dpa news agency that she perceived the situation as "scary" and more tense than in previous years.
The police literally "hunted" the demonstrators.
"But I find it absolutely admirable how people still manage to get together and demonstrate peacefully," said Georgi.
Last approved Pride Parade in 2014
The Pride Parade in the Turkish metropolis could take place undisturbed for more than ten years with steadily growing numbers of participants.
The event was banned for the first time in 2015 and was also banned in the following years - officially for safety reasons.
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, called on the Turkish authorities on Friday to allow the parade to take place.
"The human rights of LGBTI people in Turkey must be effectively protected," she said.
sol/dpa/AFP