Turkish police once again attack LGBTI+ pride month picnic organized by students

Duvar English

LGBTI+ students from İzmir Demokrasi University on June 13 planned a picnic organization as part of the LGBTI+ Pride Month, which is celebrated around the world in June. However, the police blockaded the university campus and picnic areas hours before the picnic, according to the online news outlet KaosGL. 

The police threatened LGBTI+ students who went to the area to prepare for the picnic, and then temporarily detained two students using force. Their friends did not hear from the detained students for a while even though they were released couple of hours later.

Local LGBTI+ organization Direnişin Renkleri (Colors of Resistance) condemned the police attack on their friends and stated that the Izmir Police Department committed a crime, "As LGBTI+ students of İzmir Demokrasi University, our pride picnic was prevented by the police on the grounds that it would ‘turn into a protest.’We will not allow you to arbitrarily prevent pride picnics!"

Police on June 3 also attacked LGBTI+ students who wanted to organize a pride picnic at Ege University in İzmir province. In 2022, radical Islamist groups attacked students who wanted to organize a picnic at Istanbul University, and the police did not intervene. In 2021, the police attacked the picnic organized as part of Istanbul Pride Week events in Maçka Park and broke the arm of one person. 

The long-lasting anti-LGBTI+ stance of the ruling Justice and Development Party especially accelerate during June. Last year, the Turkish police attacked and detained hundreds of people who joined pride marches around the country.