Turkish police detained more than 200 participants in a protest for LGBTQ rights held in Istanbul on Sunday, the organizers said,  news agency MIA informs.

The authorities had cordoned off large parts of the city’s central Cihangir neighbourhood, preventing people from gathering, a dpa journalist at the scene reported. A ban on the protest had earlier been issued on security grounds. The security forces surrounded people carrying rainbow flags and other symbols of sexual and gender diversity, taking them into custody even before the start of the protest.

According to the MLSA association of lawyers, Bülent Kilic, a photographer with the Agence France-Presse news agency was among those detained. In spite of the police action, people waving rainbow flags gathered in the narrow streets of Cihangir, a neighbourhood where many artists, authors and theatrical people live, as residents signalled their disapproval of the detentions by beating on pots. Several associations had called for the March of Pride under the slogan “Resistance.”

They expressed criticism of what they described as an increasingly hostile environment for LGBTQ people in Turkey. The authorities also banned other events linked to Pride Week. After taking place unhindered for more than 10 years, the Istanbul Pride Parade has come under increasing pressure since being banned for the first time in 2015.

Liana Georgi, an activist from Berlin who lives in Istanbul, described the atmosphere as “unnerving” and more tense than in previous years. Police had “hunted down” the demonstrators, she said. “It’s admirable the way people nevertheless manage to get together and demonstrate peacefully,” she said.