Police attacked demonstrators who took to the streets yesterday in Hakkari to protest against the attack on the cemetery of Kurdish guerrillas in Mardin one week ago.

Demonstrators closed the road to traffic and put up barricades, chanting slogans in favour of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Police attacked the mass using intense tear gas and pressure water. Demonstrators responded to the attack with stones. Clashes lasted till around midnight.

Turkish police continue to use excessive force against people joining the demos recently staged in the Kurdish region in protest against the government's failure to take steps for the accomplishment of the democratic resolution process.

Kurds are also taking to the streets in mass to protest against the government's Syria policy, attacks on Rojava, demolishment of the "Agit Suruç Martyrs Cemetery" and denial of their basic human right to use their mother language in daily life and to be educated in their mother tongue.

Police forces get mobilized before the demonstrations and prevent people from displaying their reaction and voicing their demands, defending that the demos are unlawful and cannot be allowed.

Even if a demo is allowed by authorities, people joining it are later subjected to investigations, trials, punishments and even arrests.

A recent incident in Mersin could well be cited in this regard to see how people joining a permitted demo face custody and arrest.

Public prosecutor of Adana launched an investigation against those who opened PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) leader Abdullah Öcalan's poster and chanted slogans in favor of the PKK during the World Peace Day rally BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) organized in the southern province of Mersin on September 1.

Three people, Abdullah Özkılavuz, Ramazan Demir and Rıdvan Fidancı, were taken into custody and referred to a vacation court, accused of "committing crime by acting for an illegal organization despite not being a member of it" and "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization".

The court board released two of the detainees and ruled Rıdvan Fidancı's arrest on charges of "committing crime by acting for an illegal organization despite not being a member of it". Fidancı was sent to Kürkçü F Type Closed Prison.

It seems the Kurdish people will be continuing to face the same fate as long as the Turkish state considers their demands and rights as unlawful and illegal. This also is a demand of theirs, the recognition of their basic democratic rights.