The traditional long march was started yesterday by the initiative of the Kurdish umbrella youth's movements Jinên Ciwanên Azad (Free Young Women) and Ciwanên Azad (Free Youths) as a prelude to the 25th International Kurdish Culture Festival in Germany that will be held on September 16.

The youth’s movements organize the march from Dortmund to Cologne within the frame of the "Azad Bike" (Make Free) campaign under the motto "Smash colonialism with revolutionary revenge - Free the Leader".

Participants of the long march reached the town of Hagen in the evening after covering 20 km during the day. After gathering at Hagen’s Democratic Kurdish Society Center early this morning, the demonstrators started the second stage of their march.

On the second day, demonstrators faced with criminalizing policies of the German police that stopped the march after a short while and threatened the participants in their announcements. In addition to recording the demonstrators on camera, the police threatened that every ‘banned’ slogan will be answered with fine, still the youths responded to the police with slogans.

The police intervention was followed by an attack from Turkish fascists, in which a Kurdish youngster got injured on arm and hospitalized. Conniving at the Turkish fascists, the German police detained a Kurdish demonstrator who was later released. The march ceased for a while in the wake of the police intervention and fascist attack, and demonstrators staged a sit-in in protest at the treatment of the police.

The march went on after some time despite the pressures and participants plan to reach Wuppertal after a 25-km walk throughout today. In Wuppertal, an event of morale will be held in the evening, with the participation of Kurdish singer Seyda Perinçek.