[ad_1]
Turkish lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex activists gathered on Sunday for an LGBTI pride march in Istanbul from street to street for an hour as police tried to end to an event for the fourth consecutive year
Hundreds of people chanted slogans and brandished rainbow flags in the side streets along Istiklal Avenue, the main pedestrian thoroughfare. Istanbul. The organizers issued a statement saying that the city's ban would not prevent them from walking peacefully.
Despite the ban, the police authorized the organizers to read a press release. "We do not recognize this ban," said the group in a statement read out loud by a volunteer, calling the ban imposed by the governor of Istanbul "comical".
Police ordered the crowd to disperse after the statement "
They fired tear gas at groups in some areas and were seen elsewhere pushing and yelling at participants who were too slow to disperse. Friday that the governor had banned the march in violation of the right to freedom of assembly.
The governor cited security reasons and public "sensibilities" as reasons to ban LGBTI marches since 2015. Prior to that, the Turkish authorities had allowed pride marches since the first in 2003. 100,000 people attended to the pride of Istanbul in 2014.
The organizers They also circulated online and said, "We are missing the marches in which thousands of people are taking part in celebrating our visibility."
On Thursday, the governor of the Turkish capital, Ankara, invoked the need to protect the country's capital. ;public order. of "Pride", a Golden Globes nominated film about gay activists in the UK. The ban on the film follows a general ban on LGBTI events in Ankara in November 1969.
Although homosexuality and transsexuality are not illegal in Turkey, LGBTI people are victims of discrimination and of hate crimes.
Yasemin Oz, an activist and lawyer, told The Associated Press that transgender and homosexual people were "ostracized and discriminated against" to access education, health care, and the public. employment.
LGBTI people must "go out into the street, show themselves, say," We are here, we "The Turkish government denies that individuals are discriminated against on the grounds of sexual identity or sexual orientation and affirms that current laws are sufficient to protect the rights of all citizens. The government states that perpetrators of anti-LGBTI hate crimes are prosecuted.
Turkey has been under emergency for almost two years as a result of a failed coup attempt that allows the authorities to restrict certain freedoms.
[ad_2]
Source link
Tags activists disperse LGBTI March police Turkish
