International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women: Thousands of women take part in manifestation in Istanbul

ISTANBUL – Under the organization of the November 25 Women’s Platform, thousands of women held a “Fight for our Lives” march yesterday in the streets of Istanbul shouting slogans like, “Our struggle against male-state violence is not over. It is growing. We will fight for our lives.”

Before the march, many alleys and streets, especially in and around Taksim Square and Istiklal Street in Beyoğlu, were blocked and barricaded by the police. The marching women threw purple paint at the police in protest, and worked their way across the barricades. “We will not leave the streets,” they shouted to the police. The gathered police attacked the women with rubber bullets and tear gas and tried to disperse the march by pushing the women off the streets, reports Syriac news paper Gazete Sabro.

The 25 November Women’s Platform cancelled the planned reading of their press statements because of the police attacks. It did however, make a short statement calling on the participants to persist and not leave the streets in protest of the restricting of their freedoms and the police violence. After the gathering in Taksim Square and Istiklal Street, the women proceeded to Karaköy where the November 25 manifestation ended.

“Sokakları terk etmeyeceğiz”

Polis saldırısına rağmen kadınlar caddeyi terk etmeyeceklerini vurguladı. Yine saldırısı nedeniyle basın açıklamalarını okumayacaklarını duyuran 25 Kasım Kadın Platformu, kısa bir açıklama yaparak sokakları terk etmeyeceklerinin mesajını verdi. pic.twitter.com/WdO2ET8IAx

— Gazete Sabro (@gazetesabro) November 26, 2021