Some 50 detained in Pride parade in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Turkish police detained at least 46 people on June 26 in Istanbul who gathered in the city’s central İstiklal Avenue for a Pride parade.

The statement from the local police headquarters noted that local authorities banned the planned LGBT march at Taksim Square and along İstiklal Avenue.

Members of the LGBT groups gathered in different locations to launch the parade, waving rainbow flags, but the police sealed off the streets.

Later, security forces intervened to disperse the crowd.

The group defied the warnings from the police and resisted security forces, the statement from the police said, adding that 46 people were detained.

The statement added that “unfortunately a member of the press, Bülent Kılıç, was also detained along with the protestors.”

Kılıç was released from the police station after he declared that he was a press member and wanted to press charges against some police officers, the statement added. Kılıç is a photographer for Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The first LGBTI Pride Parade in Turkey was held in 2003. But the marches have been banned over the recent years.