Diyarbakır police detain dozens of women in early morning raids

Police detained dozens of women in early morning raids in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on April 5, including a reporter from Kurdish online news outlet Jinnews, representatives of political parties and the Rosa Women's Association.

Members of the Rosa Women's Association are seen during a demonstration in this file photo.

Duvar English

Turkish police on April 5 detained dozens of women in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır in early morning raids, Mesopotamia Agency reported.

Kurdish news outlet Jinnews reporter Beritan Canözer was among the detainees, along with Nezahat Teke, a member of the 1999 civil initiative Peace Mothers.

District co-mayors, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) members and pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) staff members were also detained. 

Members of Turkey's United Transport Workers Union (BTS) were among those taken into custody, as well as representatives from the Rosa Women's Association, which has been targeted by law enforcement in May last year. 

"Our association was raided again 11 months later. They searched the premises by knocking the door down illegally and ripping out the alarm system, without any representatives present," the association said in their statement.

The organization also said that they would continue their resistance against the government's policies of hate and assimilation.