Police detained 18 trans women living in İstanbul Beyoğlu Bayram Street from their homes at night. Trans women were taken from their homes and taken to the Taksim Police Station with the allegation of "mediating and providing place for prostitution".

Police cited the "corona measures" as justification while detaining the women. There was no information regarding the corona measures in the crime scene report. The report stated "the street has been monitored for weeks and there are complaints" according to the witnesses.

Detained women were released in the morning after their statements were filed.

Detention reason: “Corona measures”

Beyrut, one of the detained women, told KaosGL.org about her experiences of the night. Stating that they were detained en masse at night, Beyrut said, "They told us that we were detained due to the 'corona measures'. We were 18 girls from three different buildings. They took all of us into custody. We were all in the same room for nearly two hours. Then when the lawyer came, they divided us into rooms. We were in custody until the morning."

Beyrut added that there were a lot of night watch guards on Bayram Street, where they reside, and that they waited on the street for hours at the same points:

“There was already an atmosphere of oppression by the guards. The guards were waiting for hours on the street in the same place and beat those who come and go. Naturally, this affects us. We don't know what will happen."