Police in Ankara, Turkey violently ended a student-led Pride march at the Middle East Technical University (METU) on Friday (10 May).

According to a report from Amnesty International, authorities arrested 25 students during the ensuing tumult.

‘It is heartbreaking to hear that today’s Pride march, which should have been a celebration of love and solidarity, was so violently broken up by police using pepper spray, plastic bullets and tear gas, and that at least 25 people have reportedly been unlawfully detained,’ said Fotis Filippou, Campaigns Director for Europe at Amnesty International.

‘Reports of excessive use of force by the police must be urgently investigated.’

A video posted on Twitter shows some of the chaos erupting between police and students.

The tweets translates to: ‘He is applying disproportionately power to the students at METU Honor Parade. The reason our friend was detained was “staring” and taking pictures.’

ODTÜ Onur Yürüyüşü'nde öğrencilere polis tarafından orantısız güç uygulamakta. Arkadaşımızın gözaltına alınma sebebi "dik dik bakması" ve fotoğraf çekiyor olması idi. #ODTÜyeRenkVer pic.twitter.com/FqiBwCLiZA — ODTÜ LGBTİ+ 🌈 (@odtulgbti) May 10, 2019

Students held the march despite a ban

Though Turkey lifted its ban on Pride marches, the METU rectorate banned the student march earlier this week.

‘For the last eight years students at this university have marched through their campus to celebrate pride and demand equality and dignity for LGBTI people,’ Filippou said at the time of the ban.

‘Rather than banning Pride events, the university should be supporting and protecting such marches and challenging homophobia and transphobia.’

Amnesty International further reported students ‘demonstrated peacefully’ but police prevented them from flying a rainbow flag, sitting on the lawn, and reading a statement.

‘It is a dark day when university authorities call the police to silence students who are simply demanding their rights to dignity and equality,’ the organization concluded. ‘All those detained by police must be released immediately and unconditionally.’

See also

Trans prisoner denied gender affirming surgery goes on hunger strike in Turkey

Transgender woman brutally killed outside her apartment in Istanbul

London’s first trans pride is coming