Activists have gathered in front of the CoE in Strasbourg to protest against the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan. The occasion is the birthday of the 73-year-old mastermind of the Kurdish liberation movement.
In front of the Council of Europe (CoE) in Strasbourg, France, members of the Kurdish youth movement gathered on Monday and staged an action of civil disobedience. The cause was the "ignorance" towards the prison conditions, described as inhumane, to which Abdullah Öcalan has been subjected since 1999 on the Turkish prison island of Imrali. "We take his birthday today as a motive to denounce the silence in the face of total isolation on Imrali and to call on Europe to refrain from its dirty policy against Öcalan," said a statement by the activists.
The activists involved in the protest were able to overcome the controls in front of the building and enter the premises. At the entrance of the CoE, some of them chained themselves, while others unfurled a banner showing, among other things, a PKK flag. "For more than 23 years, the exceptional situation within the Imrali torture system, aimed at total isolation, has continued. This imprisonment is to be made the normal state of society," one activist stated.
“The Kurdish youth movement is determined to continue its actions in Europe until news of Abdullah Öcalan reaches the outside world. However, the main concern is still to see the Kurdish leader in freedom. Our attachment is to the path that Öcalan opened for us with his paradigm. We are not willing to deviate from this path. The Kurdish people will not bow to unjust policies,” vowed the group.
The activists then chained themselves to the iron bar outside the CoE premises, chanting the slogans “Liberte Pour Öcalan” [Freedom for Öcalan] and “Bijî Serok APO” [Long live leader Öcalan] as they demanded his freedom and an end to the isolation imposed on him.
The police, who had arrived in the meantime, demanded that the group end the sit-in and clear the entrance to the building. Because the participants did not comply with the request and offered passive resistance, they were torn apart "with immediate force" by the forces. Before some of the activists were carried away by the police, the chains had to be cut loose with bolt cutters. A member of the youth movement was taken into custody.
Following the police crackdown, the group continued their protest by marching through the streets of Strasbourg with banners and posters.
