Tens of thousands of Kurds staged a civil disobedience action and carried flags and posters banned by German authorities. German police attacked the demonstrators after their request to remove posters of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan was not met.

Last year Germany banned series of flags and posters, including a popular poster of Kurdish leader Ocalan. German police used force to remove the posters in various demonstrations since then.

After the resistance by the protestors in Dusseldorf, the organization committee held a press conference in Dusseldorf Democratic Society Centre.

The co-chair of KCDK-E, an umbrella organization of Kurdish associations in Europe, Yuksel Koc praised the civil obedience action against Germany and said that Kurdish people sent a strong message to the German government that they will stand with Abdullah Ocalan.

“We will launch a campaign on November 11 against German state. We will be in a struggle for our rights” Koc said.

Speaking at the press conference, the co-chair of Aveg-Kon, Baki Selcuk pointed out that they are carrying out a serious struggle for democracy in Germany and said: “Ocalan is in isolation since 1999. For the past one and a half year, there were no meetings with him. There is no legal basis for this. And our people stood against these attacks with a great resistance. We witnessed a historical day.”

NAVDEM’s co-chair Ayten Kaplan also criticized Germany of implementing the same repressive mindset in Germany and added: “Kurdish people stood for Ocalan’s posters, who they see as their political will. Kurds gave a strong response to Germany.”