|
Turkish police disperse Gay Pride march, fire rubber bullets
[IsraelTimes] At least 22 incarceratedMaw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! as Istanbul LGBT activists try to press ahead with event, despite threats and ban from authorities. Turkish police on Sunday thwarted an attempt by Gay Pride activists to hold a parade in the country’s largest city, Istanbul, in defiance of an official ban from the local authorities. Police fired rubber bullets at a group of around 40 activists, an AFP journalist reported, a day after the city governor’s office banned the march, citing safety and public order concerns. Small groups gathered at Taksim Square, but witnesses said a heavy police presence outnumbered the activists, and at least 22 people were detained. It is the third year in a row that the march has been banned, and organizers denounced the move. "We are not scared, we are here, we will not change," the Pride Committee said in a statement on Sunday. "You are scared, you will change and you will get used to it. "We are here again to show that we will fight in a determined fashion for our pride." 'Governors change, we stay’ In one of the biggest LGBT events in the mainly Moslem region, the 2014 Gay Pride parade in Istanbul drew tens of thousands of people. Last year, with the city on the edge after bombings blamed on the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group and Kurdish murderous Moslems, organizers were denied permission to march. Riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters who defied the ban. Eleven activists went on trial in Istanbul this week for defying last year’s ban on the Gay Pride march, but they were all acquitted. This year, the parade coincided with the first day of Eid, the festival marking the end of the holy Moslem fasting month of Ramadan. City authorities banned the parade after threats from far-right and conservative groups. Critics accuse President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... of having overseen a creeping Islamization since he came to power, first as prime minister in 2003, and then president in 2014. “We are not alone, we are not wrong, we have not given up,” the Pride Committee’s statement said Sunday. “Governors, governments, states change and we stay. Threats, bans, pressures will not deter us…We will not give up on,” it added.
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... reported Monday, while Europe's top human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... organization criticized the country for barring the event for a third year running. Anadolu Agency said 20 people who "reacted against" the march were among those detained Sunday. Ultranationalist and religious groups had threatened the 15th Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride March in the week leading up to it. Organizers said 25 people who tried to go on with the banned event were also detained, including two minors and a Danish activist. They were released after questioning. Posted by: trailing wife 2017-06-26 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=491151 |