More than 50 arrested ahead of banned Istanbul pride parade
ANKARA: Police arrested more than 50 people in Istanbul Sunday ahead of a banned LGBTQ+ pride march, the city's bar association said.
'Before today's Istanbul Pride march, four of our colleagues, including members of our Human Rights Centre, along with more than 50 people, were deprived of their liberty through arbitrary, unjust, and illegal detention,' the Istanbul Bar's Human Rights Centre posted on X.
Earlier Sunday, police arrested protesters near the central Ortakoy district, AFP journalists observed on the scene.
Once a lively affair with thousands of marchers, Istanbul Pride has been banned each year since 2015 by Turkey's ruling conservative government.
'These calls, which undermine social peace, family structure, and moral values, are prohibited,' Istanbul Governor Davut Gul warned on X on Saturday.
'No gathering or march that threatens public order will be tolerated,' he added.
Taksim Square, one of the city's main venues for protests, celebrations and rallies, was blocked off by police from early Sunday.
According to a video posted on X by Queer Feminist Scholars, one protester chanted 'We didn't give up, we came, we believed, we are here,' as she and a dozen others ran to avoid arrest.
Homosexuality is not criminalised in Turkey, but homophobia is widespread. It reaches even the highest levels of government, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regularly describing LGBTQ+ people as 'perverts' and a threat to the traditional family.
The banning of Istanbul pride follows the failure of Hungary's conservative leader Viktor Orban to prevent his country's main pride parade from going ahead.
A estimated 200,000 people, a record, marched in the Budapest Pride parade Saturday, defying a ban by Orban's government.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Gaza rescuers say Israeli forces kill 34 as ceasefire momentum builds
GAZA CITY: Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed 34 people on Monday, including 11 waiting for aid, as momentum built behind a ceasefire push for the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a day earlier that his country's 'victory' over Iran had created 'opportunities', including for freeing hostages held by militants in Gaza. His comments raised hopes for a new ceasefire in the conflict that has created dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Key mediator Qatar said Monday that 'momentum' had been created by the Iran-Israel ceasefire. 'We won't hold our breath for this to happen today and tomorrow, but we believe that the elements are in place to push forward towards restarting the talks,' foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told journalists. - Deadly Gaza strikes - Meanwhile, on the ground, Gaza's civil defence agency said that 34 people had been killed by Israeli strikes or gunfire since midnight. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that '11 people (were) killed near aid distribution points in the central and southern parts of the territory.' Eyewitnesses and local authorities have reported repeated killings of Palestinians near distribution centres over recent weeks. Samir Abu Jarbou, 28, told AFP by phone that he had gone with four relatives to pick up food aid in an area of central Gaza around midnight. 'Suddenly the (Israeli) army opened fire, and drones started shooting. We ran away and got nothing,' he said. 'The situation is catastrophic. We are suffering from terrible hunger. My only wish is to succeed in getting a bag of flour to feed my seven siblings.' Bassal said 23 people were killed in at least seven separate strikes across the territory, mainly in the north. When asked for comment by AFP, the Israeli military said it needed more information to look into the reports. Restrictions on media in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the full tolls and details provided by rescuers. - Evacuation order - Israel's military issued a fresh evacuation order on Monday, for several areas in and around Gaza City. 'For your safety, immediately evacuate further westward and southward toward Al-Mawasi,' the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X. Despite being declared a safe zone by Israel, Al-Mawasi has been hit by repeated strikes. Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Of the 251 hostages seized during the assault, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 56,531 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Lebanon seeks guarantees from Israel as US demands Hezbollah disarmed
BEIRUT: Lebanon seeks guarantees that Israeli forces fully withdraw from Lebanese territory in response to a US demand that Beirut formally commit to disarming militant group Hezbollah, a Lebanese official said Monday. Lebanese leaders who took office in the aftermath of a war between Israel and Hezbollah last year have repeatedly vowed a state monopoly on bearing arms while demanding Israel comply with a November ceasefire that ended the fighting. The Lebanese government official told AFP that in a recent visit, US envoy Tom Barrack had presented the demand for Beirut to officially commit to start disarming the Iran-backed group as stipulated in the November agreement, along with a full Israeli withdrawal. President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and parliament speaker Nabih Berri -- who is a key Hezbollah ally -- 'are preparing a response', said the official on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to brief the media. With Barrack, Washington's ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, expected back in Beirut by mid-July, the Lebanese leaders 'will demand a halt to Israeli violations of the ceasefire, Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the release of prisoners (detained during the war) and the demarcation of the border', said the official. According to the official, Barrack in his June 19 visit also asked that Lebanon work on securing its border with Syria and pursue economic reforms demanded by international creditors. Aoun and Salam took power early this year as the balance of power shifted following the Israel-Hezbollah war that left the militant group -- long an important player in Lebanese politics -- severely weakened. Lebanese authorities say they have been dismantling Iran-backed Hezbollah's military infrastructure in the south, near the Israeli border. Israel has continued to strike Lebanon despite the November ceasefire, claiming to hit Hezbollah targets and accusing Beirut of not doing enough to disarm the group. According to the ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah is to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli frontier. Israel was to withdraw its troops from all of Lebanon, but has kept them deployed in five points it deemed strategic. Meanwhile Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Monday that his government was 'interested' in normalising ties with Lebanon and neighbouring Syria, which both do not recognise Israel and have been technically at war with it since its creation in 1948. There was no comment from Beirut or Damascus, but the Lebanese government official told AFP normalisation was not among the US envoy's demands.
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Dalai Lama's 90th birthday puts succession in focus
Revered figure: The Dalai Lama arriving to attend a Long Life Prayer offering ceremony in McLeod Ganj, ahead of his 90th birthday celebrations. — AFP The Dalai Lama will issue a message on July 2, Tibet's government in exile said, days ahead of his 90th birthday and a hugely anticipated decision as to whether he will have an eventual successor. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning monk is expected to celebrate his 90th birthday on July 6 with huge crowds in northern India, his base since leaving his homeland fleeing Chinese troops in 1959. He has said his landmark birthday will also be a time to encourage people to plan for an eventual future without him and to address whether the Tibetan people want, in time, another Dalai Lama. Penpa Tsering, the sikyong or head of the government based in India's Himalayan hill town of McLeod Ganj, said that on July 2 there would be a meeting of the most senior Tibetan religious elders, or lamas. 'There will be a brief meeting of all the head lamas ... with His Holiness (the Dalai Lama),' Tsering told reporters on Wednesday, adding that after that, they would open a religious meeting. 'At the opening of the religious conference there will be a video message from His Holiness,' he added. No details were given as to what the message will be, but there is widespread support among Tibetans in exile for the post of Dalai Lama to continue. The Dalai Lama has already said the Office of the Dalai Lama would hold the responsibility for the recognition of the next leader. He has also made it clear that any successor would by necessity be 'born in the free world'. — AFP
