Thousands gather in Istanbul for feminist night march despite government’s crackdown

Ferhat Yaşar / Gazete Duvar

Thousands of women marched in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district on March 8 for the annual Feminist Night March, despite a ban imposed by the Istanbul Governor’s Office.

The demonstration faced heavy police restrictions early in the day as security forces blocked access to Taksim Square and the surrounding areas in the megacity's historic district with metal barricades, allowing only controlled entry and exit.

Despite the blockade, thousands of women gathered on Sıraselviler Street, a parallel street to historic Istiklal Avenue, chanting slogans such as "Jin, jiyan, azadi" (Woman, life, freedom in Kurdish), "We won’t stay silent, we won’t fear, we won’t obey," and "Jump, those who don’t jump are with Tayyip!" 

Police warned demonstrators that their slogans were “illegal,” but protesters responded by blowing whistles in defiance.

As the crowd began moving forward, they continued their chants, including "You will never walk alone," completing the march despite the police presence.

Following the march, a press statement was read in Arabic, Kurdish, and Turkish. The declaration emphasized the impact of feminist movements worldwide, stating, "Today, we are in the streets as feminists who believe in the power to change both our lives and the world. Feminist struggles have already changed the world, yet women continue to face inequality, violence, and oppression daily."

The statement condemned authoritarian policies restricting women's rights, criticized increasing government control over public life, and highlighted ongoing injustices, including violence against women and media suppression. Protesters declared, "We will not remain silent. We will not stop until we build a free world."

"We draw our strength from centuries of feminist history, from the shared experiences of women across geographies and continents. We draw our strength from the women and LGBTI+ individuals in Argentina who take to the streets by the hundreds of thousands despite all odds, from the Kurdish women in the Middle East who make a secular alternative possible, from the women in Palestine and Gaza who turn their mourning into resistance and continue to sustain life no matter what. We draw our strength from the women in Syria who, against all obstacles, have the courage to say, 'You cannot build a regime without us,' and from the trans individuals in the United States who defend their existence against the power of transphobia. We raise our voices alongside theirs and rebel against the world being rebuilt through war," the statement read.

As demonstrators began to leave the march at the end through a police corridor, several women were surrounded by security forces. Many were handcuffed and taken into custody, marking yet another instance of police intervention in the annual march.

In a video shared by organizers, one of the protesters stated that the police at least surrounded 200 of them while leaving the area. Some 112 protestors were detained by the police as a result.