Police arrested dozens of people at a rally in Istanbul on Friday to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
The unauthorized protest was called at Taksim Square, a traditional rallying point for protests.
Riot police were out in force and marchers were held back by a series of roadblocks. A banner carried by the protesters read “Barriers for murderers, not women.”
JEE News reporters witnessed dozens of arrests.
The rally, called by the “November 25th Platform,” a coalition of women’s groups, brought hundreds of people to the streets.
They chanted in Turkish and Kurdish languages ​​”Woman, life, freedom, Iranian women in their struggle against the hardline regime”.
Turkey has a large Iranian diaspora, estimated at 120,000 in 2021.
A group of activists waved a banner in front of the police that declared: “For our freedom we do not remain silent, we do not give up our lives, we do not bow to patriarchal state violence.”
A member of the November 25 platform, Yassim Tawakal, said: “The police, who do not intervene against perpetrators of violence against women or murderers of women, blocked all roads leading to Taksim under the pretext of security.
“We are not afraid of state violence today,” said co-worker Berko Gulkubak.
“We are here saying that we will not bow down and we will not be silenced in the face of such violence.
“One day these police who attack us will be gone and these streets will be ours again.” In the wake of the crackdown on most public protests, women’s and LGBT movements in Turkey have grown. But the calls for protests are the latest.
