Turkish police and troops have attacked people keeping a vigil on the Kobanê border in the villages of Etmanik, Dewşen, Bedhê and Qop in Suruç district today. Many people were injured as the police fired tear gas. Many people are reported to have been taken into custody.

While ISIS has been attacking the people of Kobanê for months, on the other side of the border people maintaining a vigil are being attacked by Turkish police. In Etmanik, before the police and soldiers attacked, a delegation including DBP co-president Kamuran Yüksek, HDP MPs Demir Çelik, Hüsamettin Zenderlioğlu, Hasip Kaplan and İbrahim Binici and Mardin Metropolitan Municipal co-mayor Ahmet Türk, Siirt co-mayor Tuncer Bakırhan and former Amed Metropolitan Municipal mayor Osman Baydemir issued a statement.

Kobanê is writing an epic

Ahmet Türk spoke on behalf of the delegation. greeting the resistance of the YPG fighters. He said: "the Kobanê resistance is very important as regards understanding the point reached by the Kurdish people. We are in a period when the hearts of the people of Rojava and the people of North Kurdistan are beating as one. The whole world must realise that there will not be democracy and peace in the Middle East and Mesopotamia without the Kurds. If you want peace and democracy in this region then you cannot ignore this epic freedom struggle of the Kurds. I congratulate the people of North Kurdistan who have been resisting for days and have abolished the artificial borders."

After attacking people in Etmanik, police attacked people maintaining a vigil in the villages of Dewşen, Bedhê and Qop with water cannon and armoured vehicles.

On arrival in Dewşen the police made an announcement, saying: "this is a dangerous area, leave", before immediately using water cannon and tear gas. Three people were arrested in Dewşen, and a 55-year-old who had joined the vigil from Antalya was savagely beaten by police and soldiers.

The next village to suffer was Bedhê and then the police went to Elîzêr and warned the people to leave. In another border village, Qop, protesters were attacked.

During the attack, a young man by the name of Deniz was wounded in the chest and taken to the state hospital in Suruç for treatment. The police then moved on to the village of Elîzêr, entirley surrounding it. HDP Batman MP Ayla Akat Ata described a meeting she had with the Governor. She said she was told that the police would not intervene unless stones were thrown at them. After the police had moved throw the village and left, the activists began to the villages where the vigil is being carried out.