Turkish police detain dozens at LGBTQ+ Pride event in Istanbul

Turkish police detained at least 50 people, including a journalist, during a Gay Pride event in Istanbul on Sunday, organisers said. The event went ahead despite a ban by local authorities and the lockdown of the city's main gathering point.

Police stepped up security around Istanbul's iconic Taksim Square, erecting iron barriers, while local officials banned demonstrations in key rallying areas, including the Asian-side district of Kadikoy. The governor's office also restricted subway transport in several central locations.

The Turkish Journalists' Union said one of those detained was Muberra Unsal, who holds a valid press card. "Journalists covering the Istanbul Pride March faced unlawful interference again this year. Despite repeatedly identifying herself as a journalist, Unsal was also taken into custody," the union said on X.

LGBTQ+ protesters, who gathered in several neighbourhoods across the city, vowed to continue their demonstrations. "My love, today isn't over yet. In fact, we're just getting started. We're not giving up. We'll keep taking to the streets from every corner we're in," the protesters chanted.

The Istanbul Bar Association unfurled a large banner from its building on Istiklal Avenue reading: "LGBT is human rights".

Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, but the LGBT community is frequently targeted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has blamed it for a declining birth rate. Since 2015, the annual Pride march has been almost systematically banned and suppressed.

Separately, Turkish authorities on Saturday ordered an Istanbul gay bar to close over unspecified violations following protests by Islamist groups against its owner. The closure came after Islamist groups launched a campaign on social media against a planned cruise ship tour aimed at LGBTQ+ travellers. They claimed the Turkish leg of the programme was being organised by Mustafa Dogan Yilmaz, the bar's owner. The ship had been scheduled to dock in Istanbul on July 8. Pro-government daily Yeni Safak reported that the cruise operator had decided to cancel its Istanbul stop.