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Over 360 people, including an AFP reporter, were arrested by the police as groups gathered around Taksim Square in Istanbul on Sunday for the annual Pride march.
Earlier in the week the authorities had proclaimed that the demonstration was banned, and the governorship of Istanbul announced on Saturday that the Metro stations in and around Taksim would be closed on Sunday.
People gathered in groups for the march anyway, mostly in back streets to avoid the heavy police presence.
Speeches were delivered and the march went ahead, despite the measures taken by the authorities to prevent it, but many were also faced with police violence and arrests throughout the day.
The police targeted reporters as well as demonstrators. A police officer was caught on camera throwing one journalist to the ground, and Bülent Kılıç, an AFP reporter who was arrested at last year’s Pride march and suffered police violence then, was again arrested, for defying orders not to record images.
The organisers of the Pride Parade put out a call out on Twitter for legal support, saying there were not enough lawyers in attendance at police headquarters for so many detainees.
