Turkish police fired rubber bullets and detained at least one woman in Istanbul on Sunday as they broke up a gathering to mark this week’s International Women’s Day.

Reuters reports that hundreds of women came out to highlight issues of domestic violence and low female participation in the workforce, despite a ban on the demonstration by Turkish authorities, who have come in for criticism from the U.N. and others for their handling of gender inequality. Plainclothes police officers reportedly manhandled the women before riot police fired rubber bullets to disperse crowd.

“You see the power of women,” protester Guris Ozen told Reuters. “We are here despite every obstacle and we will continue to fight for our cause.”

[Reuters]

Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.

Write to Simon Lewis at simon_daniel.lewis@timeasia.com.