Several detained in police attack on women’s meeting for 8 March in Ankara

Police in Ankara violently broke up a public meeting of the local Women’s Platform and detained at least nine activists. The women now face charges for allegedly violating bans on assembly. Sendika.org correspondent Tankut Serttaş, who accompanied the gathering, was a victim of police violence.

The background to the meeting convened in front of the city hall in the district of Çankaya was the public reading of a call by the Ankara Women’s Platform to participate in activities on International Women’s Day, 8 March. Riot police drove up with water cannons and had the square in front of the city hall cordoned off before the activists arrived.

When the women, who had been encircled in the meantime, insisted on making their statement anyway, the police forces initially dispersed the group. The activists then tried to hold a demonstration in protest, chanting slogans such as “Long live women’s solidarity” and “We are not afraid, we do not go silent, we do not obey”. This action was also violently ended by the police.