On 20 January 2018, the Turkish invasion of the northern Syrian canton of Afrin began. After 58 days of resistance against the second largest NATO army and its jihadist allies, the withdrawal was decided and hundreds of thousands of people fled to the neighboring Shehba Canton. The fact that the fight against the occupying forces continues today was demonstrated on Saturday by countless displaced persons, thousands of whom took to the streets in spite of the bitter cold. With a massive demonstration in Shehba, the people affirmed that they would hold on to their resistance until Afrin is freed from the occupation.

The demonstration started in front of the Berxwedan camp and moved through the town. Many of the participants carried olive branches as a symbol of peace and pictures of the martyrs. Banners highlighted the demands: "No to demographic change" and "No to Turkish occupation".

The march ended at the park on the camp grounds. Afterwards a rally began with a minute's silence for the martyrs of the Rojava revolution. Representatives of institutions of the autonomous administration vowed in speeches to continue the fight against the occupation.

Gîvara Şoreş from the Board of the Council of the War-disabled declared that the Turkish state is aiming at the free will and the right of self-determination of the peoples of Northern Syria. "We displaced people who are now in Shehba will not make any concessions to the aggressors. We will fight until our home is freed."

After the speeches, YPG, YPJ and SDF fighters performed a play about the resistance of Afrin together with activists of the Revolutionary Youth Movement of Syria. The meeting ended with loud slogans.

Afrin is one of three federal regions (divided into six cantons) in northern Syria in which a grassroots democratic form of society has been established in recent years on the model of "democratic confederalism".

The establishment of a free and grassroots democratic society in the immediate vicinity of the Turkish border was seen by the Turkish President Erdoğan as a threat - after all, it is a counter-draft to the authoritarian regime he established in Turkey under his leadership.

On January 20, 2018, the Turkish army therefore launched a war of aggression cynically called "Operation Olive Branch", which resulted in a bloody balance sheet with hundreds of civilians and fighters killed, the devastation of nature, the plundering of all resources and the change of demography - and it still continues.