- Tweeter
republish
In Turkey, dozens of gatherings were planned on the occasion of the International Day for Women's Rights. In Istanbul, thousands of people gathered in the early evening, an unauthorized protest that was violently dispersed by law enforcement.
With our correspondent in Istanbul, Alexandre Billette
The police had cordoned off the large Istiklal pedestrian avenue in the heart of Istanbul in the afternoon in anticipation of the scheduled evening march. Yet in previous years the authorities had closed their eyes even under a state of emergency after the coup attempt in 2016.
The march of 8 March was a kind of exception, a large peaceful gathering tolerated despite anti-government slogans and posters.
This time, on the other hand, the police violently dispersed the crowd of several thousand people with tear gas and plastic bullets. This was already the case last November at another feminist gathering.
As a message from the authorities, there is no longer any exception for mass rallies whose speeches are hostile to power. A show of force also just three weeks of the municipal elections of March 31.