Storm knocks down makeshift screen blocking women’s only beach

ISTANBUL

DHA Photo

Heavy winds knocked down a wooden screen separating a controversial women’s only beach section from the rest of the coast in Kocaeli’s Karamürsel district yesterday, Doğan news agency has reported.
 
Municipality officials who arrived on the scene this morning, however, said the hinges holding together the wall had been deliberately loosened prior to the storm.
 
"It's a bit unlikely that the storm knocked down the screen that we built," one official said. "The hinges were loosened, according to our inspections."
 
But locals dismissed the claims, saying strong winds were nothing unusual in the area.
 
Residents whose views had been blocked by the screen for months said they were extremely happy that the winds had brought down the walls.
 
Locals had been raising their voice against the municipality ever since wooden screens were installed around a section of the beach to establish a women's only beach area. Residents tried to stop the construction on the grounds that it blocked the sea coast but failed.