Reuters

Turkish police break up ‘violence against women’ protest

Riot police fired pepper gas to disperse demonstrators who gathered in Istanbul on Thursday to protest violence against women, some chanting “government resign”, nearly five months after Turkey withdrew from a treaty on the issue. The group of several thousand, mostly women, marched to the city centre’s Taksim Square, blocked off with barriers amid a heavy police presence. The protest, held to mark the international day for the elimination of violence against women, coincided with other small anti-government protests this week over the sharp slide in the value of the lira currency.