The Turkish government banned an LGBTQ pride parade in Istanbul. People marched anyway.

By Nidhi Prakash  |  June 20, 2016 | 3:04pm
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One week after from the massacre at an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando that left 49 people dead, transgender rights activists marched through Istanbul on Sunday in defiance of a government ban on their pride parade. Riot police used tear gas and plastic bullets on the crowds, according to the BBC.

The event, along with an LGBTQ pride parade on June 26, had been banned by the Turkish government this year to “safeguard security and public order,” the BBC reported, but LGBTQ activists say the government is bowing to pressures from conservative anti-LGBTQ groups who issued threatening messages about the parades in recent weeks.

Protesters posted photos and video of the march online with the hashtag #izinistemedikki (which translates to “We didn’t ask for your permission,” according to one Twitter user):

March organizers said the bans were a “flagrant violation of the constitution and the law,” according to Al Jazeera, and said they would launch legal challenges against what they said was an infringement on their rights.

https://twitter.com/LPostir/status/744473554641649664

LGBTQ pride parades have been held in Istanbul for 13 years with minimal incidents until last year, when the government refused to allow the march for the first time.

 
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