ISTANBUL – Turkish Police Fires Tear Gas On Women’s Day March. The local police, on Sunday, fired tear gas to prevent hundreds of women marching on the city’s central avenue on International Women’s Day. Istanbul authorities have banned the march for the second year running.
According to details, riot police were trying to disperse the crowds at the popular Taksim Square. Media reports say that this is close to Istiklal Avenue where the women wanted to march. There was heavy police deployment at the spot. The situation was calm until the women tried to enter the avenue and officers intervened.
The women marched chanting feminist slogans and carrying placards. Some of the slogans were as follows. Trans women are women. Abuse cannot be forgiven or excused. And Long live the feminist struggle. Turkish Police Fires Tear Gas On Women’s Day March.
Authorities had banned Women’s march last year as well. Where police fired tear gas at thousands of women on the central avenue. This was despite a peaceful demonstration in 2018. The issue of women’s rights is often on the news agenda following high profile femicides. Critics accuse President Erdogan‘s Islamic-rooted government of not taking violence against women seriously enough.
One killing that had a particular impact was the murder of 38-year-old Turkish woman Emine Bulut at the hands of her former husband in August 2019. Meanwhile, her 10-year-old daughter saw her dying in front of her eyes. According to the women’s rights group ‘We Will Stop Femicide’, 474 women were killed in murders linked to their gender in 2019 alone. This number was 440 in 2018 and 210 in 2012.