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Istanbul Pride parade dispersed by tear gas and rubber bullets
http://www.france24.com/en/20160627-turkey-gay-rights-lgbt-istanbul-parade-police-detain-german-politicians?ns_campaign=reseaux_sociaux&ns_source=FB&ns_mchannel=social&ns_linkname=editorial&aef_campaign_ref=partage_aef&aef_campaign_date=2016-06-27Turkish security forces on Sunday briefly detained two German politicians who joined demonstrators defying a ban on Istanbul’s Gay Pride parade. Police used rubber bullets, tear gas and detained 12 activists in a bid to disperse the gathering.
Istanbul Pride -- dubbed “the biggest gay pride parade in the Muslim world” -- collapsed in chaos this year with heavily outnumbered Turkish riot and plainclothes police clamping down on a few hundred protesters who gathered in small groups Sunday around the city’s landmark Istiklal Avenue.
Two German politicians -- Volker Beck, a prominent Green lawmaker and one of Germany's most vocal gay politicians, and Green MEP Terry Reintke -- were detained on Sunday and held for a few hours. By Sunday night, a dozen other detained activists had been released.
Istanbul Pride -- dubbed “the biggest gay pride parade in the Muslim world” -- collapsed in chaos this year with heavily outnumbered Turkish riot and plainclothes police clamping down on a few hundred protesters who gathered in small groups Sunday around the city’s landmark Istiklal Avenue.
Two German politicians -- Volker Beck, a prominent Green lawmaker and one of Germany's most vocal gay politicians, and Green MEP Terry Reintke -- were detained on Sunday and held for a few hours. By Sunday night, a dozen other detained activists had been released.
Authorities in Turkey’s commercial capital banned the 2016 Istanbul Pride parade citing security concerns. The fallout of the war in neighbouring Syria and the scrapping of a peace process with the Kurdish PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) has hit Turkey in recent months, with the country witnessing a number of deadly attacks, including a March 19 attack in Istanbul’s tourist district of Beyoglu, which killed five people.
Turkey’s gay rights activists however were not convinced by the ruling AK Party’s assertion that the march was banned due to security concerns. “The AK Party has an Islamist tendency and they essentially hate the LGBT community,” explained Levent Piskin, a lawyer and prominent Turkish gay rights activist. “They should have provided us with a democratic way to demonstrate, but they didn’t. They chose instead to forbid the demonstration.”
Turkey’s gay rights activists however were not convinced by the ruling AK Party’s assertion that the march was banned due to security concerns. “The AK Party has an Islamist tendency and they essentially hate the LGBT community,” explained Levent Piskin, a lawyer and prominent Turkish gay rights activist. “They should have provided us with a democratic way to demonstrate, but they didn’t. They chose instead to forbid the demonstration.”