On January 7, a mass demonstration was held in Paris to protest the deadly attacks against the Kurds. Tens of thousands of people commemorated Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan, Leyla Şaylemez, who had been murdered on January 9, 2013, and demanded French authorities to expose those responsible for the triple murder of Evîn Goyî, Mir Perwer and Abdurrahman Kızıl in Paris on December 23, 2022.

The German police arbitrarily blocked activists from participating in the mass demonstration, stopping the buses on their way to the demonstration in Paris and banned many people from leaving Germany.

Left Party Deputy Gökay Akbulut addressed the arbitrary obstruction of activists  at the Federal Assembly and said that the blocking of activists was a continuation of the years-long criminalization of the Kurds by the German state. Akbulut asked the Federal Government how many people had been blocked on January 7 and why such a decision had been taken.

In a short response obtained by ANF, the Ministry of Interior said that on January 7, 24 German citizens seeking to attend the commemoration in Paris were blocked by the Federal Police (Bundespolizei). However, the Ministry did not present any explanation as to why the police blocked the citizens.

Akbulut asked the government to explain why the activists were prevented, saying, “The freedom of travel, a fundamental right of the citizens, was violated by the police. This decision means that the Federal Government makes concessions to Turkey.”