Turkish gay pride parade suffers police crackdown

Turkish police fired rubber bullets, pepper spray, and water cannons to disperse a gay pride parade near Taksim square in Istanbul on Sunday. Organisers say authorities refused to grant a permit for the parade because it was the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. While homosexuality is not criminalised in Turkey, it also lacks social acceptance. The EU Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the Turkish authorities’ crackdown, saying the police’s duty was to “protect demonstrators, not attack them”.