For reasons that were not immediately clear, Turkish police in central Istanbul used water cannon and rubber bullets to disperse a crowd gathered for the city’s annual gay pride parade, Reuters reports.

According to Reuters, Turkey’s Dogan news agency reported that police were telling crowds around the city that they would not be allowed to march this year.

While homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey, the pride parade coincides, this year, with the holy month of Ramadan, which Reuters reports is “something that could cause conservative Muslims to bristle.


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