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Police in Turkey have been left red-faced after their attempts to block a Pride parade helped to celebrate the occasion.

The officers were using water cannon to clear the peaceful parade in Istanbul when the water droplets caught the sunlight and branched across the sky in a rainbow.

Pride across the world uses a rainbow as its representative colours, on flags and more, giving a clear association with the LGBT community.

The image was posted on Reddit with the heading: "Police in Turkey try to stop Pride parade with water cannons, accidentally creates rainbows".

The magical moment came within the midst of some frightening responses from the lawmakers including reports of rubber pellets and tear gas, as they stopped up to 200 marchers near the city's Taksim Square and chased them away.

Police had told the crowd they would not allowed to march, and it's thought that the occurence of the Pride parade at the same time as Ramadan may have caused upset with some conservative Muslim groups who are anti-gay.

Not to be stopped, after the rainbow moment the crowds came back together, and a few thousand danced together and chanted against homophobia as the day went on.

Although homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, homophobia is not unusual.