Police Fire Tear Gas at Thousands Taking Part in Banned Women's Day Rally in Turkey

Istanbul: Istanbul police fired tear gas at thousands of women who took to the city's central avenue on International Women's Day on Friday in defiance of a protest ban to demand greater rights and denounce violence.

Security forces in riot gear pushed the crowds of women — some wearing colourful wigs and masks — at the entrance to the city's main pedestrianised shopping

street of Istiklal Avenue, an AFP correspondent reported.

Police then used tear gas on the marchers and menaced them with dogs, causing many protesters to flee onto side streets.

The Women's Day event took place peacefully last year but just before this year's march, authorities issued a statement banning any demonstration on the city's central avenue.

Ahead of the protest the area was flooded with police who set up cordons around the central Taksim Square, while many local shops were closed.

One woman, called Ulker, speaking to AFP from behind a barrier, said: "Here is the bitter truth: There is a system, there is a state that is scared of us. I condemn this."

Thousands of demonstrators were eventually allowed into a small part of the avenue to stage the protest.

They unfurled banners that read "Feminist revolt against male violence, and poverty", and "I was born free and I will live free." The demonstrators also chanted slogans including "We are not silent, we are not scared, we are not obeying." The crowds then became trapped between two security cordons and were subsequently dispersed by the police using tear gas.

Women's activists have long accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government of not doing enough to stop violence against women.

In 2018, 440 women were killed in murders linked to their gender, according to the women's rights group "We Will Stop Femicide", compared with 210 in 2012.

The issue came to public attention when Turkish pop singer Sila appeared before court on complaints of having been beaten by her partner Ahmet Kural, a famous actor.

The landmark trial opened in Istanbul Thursday a day before International Women's Day.

"As you know in Turkey violence against women is very high. The government is doing nothing to stop it. That's all we can do: to come here and speak up," protester at Istiklal Avenue Gulsah said.

Women's rallies were also held in the capital Ankara, where a few hundred women protested, with small police presence.

Some chanted: "Men are killing and the state is protecting killers".

Large scale protests are rare events in Turkey since mass 2013 anti-government rallies, which were seen as a major challenge to Erdogan's government.