Turkish Police Disperses Women Protesters With Tear Gas

Turkish police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse women protesters who marched on Thursday night to mark International Day for the Elimination Violence Against Women.

"We are not silenced, we do not fear and we do not obey," the women chanted together in the streets of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Mersin and other cities and towns.

The protesters condemned the Turkish government's decision to exit from the so-called Istanbul Convention, the 2011 Council of Europea treaty on eliminating domestic violence and upholding women's rights.

Many protesters also called for the government's resignation amid a fast-deepening economic crisis in the country, which has sent the currency into freefall.

Police action resulted in several injuries. Some protesters were hit by rubber bullets in their heads.

"A rubber bullet hit a tiny tree next to my head, on which I was leaning while following the protest," Izel Sezer, a journalist from Ileri Haber, said on Twitter, adding that protesters seemed to be targeted by police.

Bir kadının başından yaralandığı bu eylemi takip ederken polisin attığı plastik mermi kafamın yanında, yaslandığım ağacın incecik gövdesinde patladı. Yanımda 3 gazeteci daha vardı ve herhangi birimizin kafadan vurulmaması tamamen tesadüf. İnsanlar açık şekilde hedef alındı. https://t.co/DPMuY0dC0G

— İzel Sezer (@izelsezer) November 25, 2021

Femicide and violence against women remain major problems in Turkey. So far in 2021, at least 353 women were killed by men; 410 women were killed by men in 2020 and 422 in 2019.

In a recent case of femicide, a woman was brutally murdered in broad daylight with a samurai sword while she was walking on a street in Istanbul on...