A vigil by the Democratic Kurdish Community in Switzerland has been taking place in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva since 25 January 2021. Every Wednesday, activists stage a protest in front of the United Nations building to demand the release of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. The action is carried out as part of the 'Dem dema azadiye' [Time for Freedom] campaign and directed against the isolation of the Kurdish leader on the Turkish prison island of Imrali, the Turkish occupation attacks on Kurdistan, the massacres committed in Kurdish territories and the silence of the UN.

During today’s vigil, taking place around a tent in Nations Square, where the UN office is located, activists saluted the hunger strike actions of prisoners in Turkey and North Kurdistan, which started on 27 November as part of the international campaign "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, solution to the Kurdish question".

Mehmet Latif Çelebi, Co-President of the Geneva Democratic Kurdish Community Centre (CDK-Ge), called for participation in the central march to be held on 13 December, as the Geneva sit-in is entering its 4th year.

Librarian Anne Claude took the floor on behalf of the Serhildan Group, an internationalist organisation that declared its foundation in Switzerland after France and Belgium on the basis of solidarity with Kurdistan and the Rojava Revolution.

Noting that Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan has been imprisoned under isolation for 24 years, Anne Claude said, "For 3 years, this isolation has been turned into torture and has been put into practice in its most severe form. Concerns about Abdullah Öcalan's life have increased."

After the speech of Anne Claude, who stated that as Serhildan Group, they will organise an event on the history of Kurdistan this evening, the activists started a sit-in protest.