Turkish police broke up a gay pride parade with tear gas and plastic bullets at the weekend after the marchers defied a government ban. The ban on glbti marches has been in place for two years and was said to have been put in place to keep public order after past parades had attracted violent protest from right-win conservative and anti-gay elements. The march was held in a side street off the main thoroughfare of downtown Istanbul. There had been gay pride marches in Istanbul for thirteen years prior to the ban. Historically fairly secular, Turkey appears to be moving towards a more conservative Islamic nature. A newspaper with close ties to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week headlined the Orlando gay club massacre: "Death toll rises to 50 in bar where perverted homosexuals go!"