🔴Youth action for Öcalan’s freedom during the Parliamentary session in Strasbourg
📌Youth activists have disrupted the session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, demanding the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).… pic.twitter.com/nOUGqwckbZ
— MedyaNews (@medyanews_) December 19, 2024
This morning a group of 30 youth activists disrupted the session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg to demand the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The young people opened a banner saying ‘Freedom for Öcalan – For a peaceful solution in the Middle East – Stop the Third World War,’ and chanted the slogan ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’ (Woman, Life, Freedom). Protesters opened flags of YPG and YPJ, the Kurdish military forces which are currently fighting against Turkish supported mercenaries in Northeast Syria. Parliamentarians clapped while activists chanted.
The activists released the following statement about their action:
“We call on the European Union to fulfill its democratic obligations and respect international human rights conventions. To condemn and punish the war crimes of the Turkish state and its ongoing invasion of northern and eastern Syria. To exert pressure on Turkey and demand the physical release of Abdullah Öcalan, who is the key to a democratic dialog between the peoples. The guarantee of his safety and working conditions and the inclusion of all representatives of the people in a negotiation process. Without these conditions, the conditions for peace in the Middle East cannot be created.”
The protesters were escorted out by security officers. The organisers asked all the supporters of Ocalan’s freedom and and sympathisers of the Kurdish cause to be ready to provide solidarity in case of arrest.
In related news, this Monday four activists scaled Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. They unfurled a banner supporting Kurdish self-governance in Syria. The demonstration, calling for Germany’s recognition of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), spotlighted the escalating tensions over Turkey’s attacks on Kurdish regions.
