ISTANBUL: 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. Hundreds of protesters carrying rainbow flags had pressed ahead with the rally in defiance of police.
“The future is queer,” they chanted. “We are here. We are queer. We are not going anywhere.” Organisers tweeted that more than 200 Pride participants and LGBTQ activists had been detained and police had refused detainees access to their lawyers.
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