Turkish police blocked the LGBTQIA+ Pride Parade in Istanbul today, arresting more than 200 people, including activists and journalists. AFP.
Even before the start of the demonstration, riot police carried out their first major raid on numerous bars and streets around the symbolic Taksim square in the Cihangir district, arresting people there “at random”, AFP.
A total of nearly 200 people were detained in various raids organized by the regulatory forces and they were gradually released in the evening hours.
NGO Kaos GL, which fights for the promotion of rights and the protection of LGBTQIA+ people, had already counted “more than 150” arrests in the afternoon. Amnesty International called for the “unconditional and immediate release” of the detainees on Twitter.
As every year, the LGBTQIA+ Pride Parade was officially banned by the city’s governor, but hundreds of protesters, waving rainbow-colored flags, gathered in the streets adjacent to Taksim Square, which is completely closed to the public.
“The Future is Strange”
“The future is queer!”, “You will never be alone!” or “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re not going anywhere else!” The protesters then marched through the streets of Cihangir Mahallesi for more than an hour, with the support of residents demonstrating from their windows.
A cameraman recorded that the detainees were taken to the Istanbul main police station by law enforcement. AFP.
“They are trying to deport us, hinder us, discriminate and even kill us every minute of our existence,” 22-year-old Diren told the news agency. “But today is an opportunity to stand up for our rights, to shout that we exist: you will never be able to stop queers,” Diren added, using a term that refers to any alternative gender and rejects the biological definition of sex.
According to some eyewitnesses, the police tried to prevent the press from recording the arrests. Bülent Kılıç is an experienced and award-winning photographer. AFPFamiliar with the conflict zones, he was handcuffed from behind and put in a police car with the others. He was arrested under the same conditions last year.
“The Habit of Arrest”
On Twitter, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) complained that Turkish authorities “seem to have a habit of arresting the photojournalist”. AFP Bülent Kılıç.” “Despite three convictions by the Constitutional Court in the last three years, the security forces continue to attack journalists and make arbitrary arrests. “Unfortunately, the administration has made a habit of ignoring neither the court nor the law,” he said.
After a spectacular parade of over 100,000 people in Istanbul in 2014, Turkish authorities officially ban the LGBT+ Pride Parade every year for safety reasons.
On Friday, European Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic urged “Istanbul authorities to lift the current ban on the Gay Pride Parade and ensure the safety of peaceful protesters”. He called for the human rights of LGBT+ individuals in Turkey to be protected and an end to their stigma.
“Mad”
Homosexuality has not been decriminalized in Turkey since the mid-19th century (in 1858), but remains largely subject to social disapproval and hostility from the ruling conservative Islamic party AKP and the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. One minister once described homosexuals as “crazy”.
In 2020, the Netflix platform had to give up the production of a series in Turkey because it had a gay character and did not get permission from the authorities. In the same year, French sportswear and equipment brand Decathlon became the target of boycott calls in Turkey for publishing messages supporting LGBTQ+ communities in its campaigns.
source: Noticias
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