Spontaneous Kurdish demonstration in front of the European Parliament / ARARAT NEWS
2012-10-30 Kurdish politicians, intellectuals, lawyers, artists and activists hold
a spontaneous peaceful sit-in action in front of the European Parliament in Brussels as sign of solidarity with the 680 Kurdish hunger strikers
in Turkey.
The demonstration turned violent, when a group of journalists – has been attacked by few police men and women.
Brussels, 29 October 2012 – Ararat News (ANP), Roni Alasor and Fiona
Lorin – More than 150 Kurdish politicians, intellectuals, lawyers,
artists and activists hold a peaceful sit-in action in front of the
European Parliament in Brussels as sign of solidarity with the 680
Kurdish hunger strikers in the Turkish prisons. The demonstration lasted
peacefully until a group of journalists has been denied access to the
demonstration area and has been arrested with violence by few police men
and women.
The demonstration in Brussels was part of the Kurdish solidarity
movement, which has been spreading all over Turkey and Europe in the
last days. Six hundred eighty (680) political prisoners in fifty eight
(58) Turkish prisons have started an irreversible and indefinite hunger
strike since 12 September 2012. Currently, about twenty of the hunger
strikers are in critical state and their life is at risk. There are
around 10.000 Kurdish political prisoners in Turkey. The protestors ask
for solution of the Kurdish question, release of all political
prisoners, recognition of the use of the Kurdish native language in
education and during defence in courts, provision of health, security
and freedom conditions for the PKK Abdullah Ocalan.
In Brussels, the European quarter, where are situated the EU
institutions, has been blocked by the police since early afternoon on
Monday. The police also took high security measures around the Turkish
Embassy in Brussels and other Turkish official institutions. Several
hundred of civil and uniformed policemen were in action. The
demonstration started peacefully as a result of the constructive
cooperation between Kurdish high level politicians, representatives of
the Federal Police and the European Parliament’s Security agents.
KNK, Kurdistan National Congress, tabled “Urgent appeal to the European
Institutions”, calling “on the EU Parliament and the EU Commission to
take immediate action by adopting political and diplomatic sanctions in
order to force the AKP Government to stop its genocide politics against
Kurds”.
The Kurdish politicians also asked for two ad hoc parliamentary
delegations to Turkey – one visiting the leader of Kurdistan Workers
Party Abdullah Ocalan, and one other visiting the hunger strikers in the
Turkish prisons.
The Member of the European Parliament Jurgen Klute, President of the
EP-Kurds Friendship Group, met the demonstrators and insured them that
the European Parliament will discuss the situation of the hunger
strikers in Turkey. The German MEP Klute informed all the European
parliamentarians on the Kurdish demands and asked for adequate political
initiatives in the near future.
Even though the demonstration continued peacefully, the situation
escalated when a group of journalists with accreditation for the EU
Institutions and pres cards from International Federation of Journalists
(IFJ), and national press cards from Denmark, Germany and Austria have
been denied access to the demonstration area. While representatives from
Federal Police and EP-security were coordinating the situation under
control with the Kurdish high level politicians, few individuals from
the Belgian uniformed police units went into direct confrontation with
the journalists, beat and put down two of them who were afterwards
arrested. This provocative police violence could potentially lead to
dangerous development of the situation. The arrested journalists were
Ferda Cetin, lawyer and editor, and Erdal Er, TV-news and program maker.
However, the arrested journalist has been released one hour later after
pressure from demonstrators who were dispersed in peace.