Police in Istanbul disperse women rally on International Women's Day March 8. On Sunday evening, March 8, law enforcement officers used tear gas against activists in the central Taksim Square..

The city authorities previously did not allow the action, as a year earlier. All the streets leading to Taksim Square, as well as the pedestrian Istiklal Street, were blocked. In addition, several metro stations in the center of Istanbul were closed.. Despite this, several hundred women took part in the action. They shouted slogans and held posters with the words "

The protest rally was peaceful until the participants tried to break into Istiklal Street. After that, the police intervened in the course of the rally. In 2019, the rally was also banned, and the police dispersed its participants using tear gas.

On the eve of mass events on the occasion of International Women's Day were held in a number of countries. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres proposed to proclaim the 21st century as the Century of Gender Equality. “It's time to stop trying to change women and start changing a system that is preventing them from reaching their potential,” he wrote in a column for the Sunday edition of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

In turn, German Chancellor Angela Merkel recorded a special video podcast on the occasion of International Women's Day.

In her opinion, men should be more actively involved in the family sphere, in the process of caring for the needy and in raising children. In this case, even more women will succeed in realizing their business life.. " This is a fact, "

International Women's Day was established in 1910 in Copenhagen by a German political activist, a member of the communist movement, Clara Zetkin.