Istanbul Pride attendees dispersed by police with water cannon and rubber bullets as governor calls off event

• Plans to march along Istanbul’s Istikal Avenue near Taksim Square quickly evaporated as police swarmed the marchers preparing for the Sunday evening parade, leading to several detentions.
• The governor denied permission for the event citing Ramadan, despite the parade having taken place in the past.
• The event has grown from 30 participants in 2003 to around 50,000 in 2013, considered to be the largest of its kind in the Muslim world.

“These people do not hurl stones and they never would. They do not throw petrol bombs. They just ask for a legal recognition. … This summarizes what has been happening in Turkey. Any request for rights is met like this.”

Read the full stories at Hurriyet News Daily and Reuters.

(Image Credit: Kemal Aslan/Reuters)