Police detain at least 30 women in Istanbul Convention demonstration

ANKARA

Police detained at least 33 women in Ankara on Aug. 12 demonstrating to defend the Istanbul Convention.

Women’s rights groups and feminists have been demanding the Istanbul Convention, a Council of Europe treaty that obligates member states to fight violence against women, be fully implemented amid debates that Turkey could withdraw from it.

Some 70 women gathered in the Çankara district of the capital upon a call from the Ankara Women’s Platform for a protest meeting called “the Istanbul Convention Saves Lives.”

Security officials told the group that their action was illegal, should not block the road and continue their demonstration in a nearby park.

The police intervened when the protesters tried to force their way into the central Ankara.

“Some 33 individuals were detained as they defied calls and resisted the police,” the local security directorate said in a statement.

They were all later released.