Kurds and their allies marched through the streets of the French capital on Saturday to protest against two deadly attacks on their community 10 years apart in Paris and the continuing impunity in the cases.
The mass demonstration, calling for justice and transparency, took place one year after the shooting at a Kurdish cultural centre in Paris that claimed the lives of three Kurds on 23 December. Kurdish activists Emine Kara and Abdurrahman Kızıl and musician Mîr Perwer were killed in the attack.
The crowd began to gather early in the morning at the Ahmet Kaya Cultural Centre, the site of the 2022 massacre, and at the Gare du Nord, the starting point of the march.
As a gesture of remembrance, the Municipality of the 10th arrondissement of Paris decorated its building with photographs of the victims of both massacres, including Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez, who were killed in another attack in Paris on 9 January 2013, allegedly orchestrated by Turkish intelligence.
Since the 2022 attack, the Kurdish community have called for a comprehensive investigation of the attack’s links to the 2013 assassinations.
The march will be attended by prominent figures, demonstrating cross-party support for the demand for justice. Alexandra Cordebard, mayor of the 10th district of Paris, Rémi Féraud, senator for the Socialist Party in Paris, Ian Brossat, spokesman for the Communist Party of France and senator for Paris, Pascal Torre, president of the France-Kurdistan Solidarity Association, Danielle Simonnet, deputy for the French Indomitable Movement in Paris, Julien Bayou, deputy for the Greens in Paris, and François Béchiequ, 19th deputy mayor of Paris, were among those taking part in the demonstration.
The march, which was closely followed by the local and national press, underlined the collective demand to address the unresolved aspects of these two murders and to shed light on the continuing impunity surrounding them. The call for accountability and justice echoed as the crowd moved through the city.
