Despite the ban, police allowed the organizers to read a press statement. “We do not recognize this ban,” the group said in the statement read out loud by a volunteer, calling the prohibition imposed by Istanbul’s governor “comical.”

Police told the crowd to disperse after the statement, warning “otherwise, we will intervene.” Officers patrolled with dogs and had water cannons stationed nearby.

They fired tear gas on groups in some areas and were seen elsewhere pushing and shouting at participants who were too slow to scatter.

March organizers said Friday that the governor had prohibited the march in violation of the right to freedom of assembly.

The governor has cited security reasons and public “sensitivities” as grounds for barring LGBTI marches since 2015. Prior to that, Turkish authorities had allowed pride marches since the first one took place in 2003. As many as 100,000 people attended Istanbul Pride in 2014.

While police tried to disperse Sunday’s march, participants kept reassembling in clusters in different parts of the city’s Taksim district, chanting “Don’t be silent, shout out, homosexuals exist.”