Thousands defied the PKK ban in Berlin

[Anthea]

Thousands defied the PKK ban in Berlin

Masses gathered in Berlin on Saturday to mark the 25th year of the PKK ban in Germany and defied the German state’s bans against the Kurdish movement, chanting “Bijî Serok Apo”, carrying images of Öcalan and unfurling the flags of PKK, YPG and YPJ

Thousands have flocked to Berlin on Saturday to protest the 25th anniversary of the PKK ban, the German state’s policy of criminalization and prohibition against Kurds, the rising racism in the country and the police act the federal government wants to pass.

Large numbers of people from various peoples, including Kurdistan people from dozens of provinces in all states of Germany, first gathered in the Alexanderplatz Square before starting a march to Spreewaldplatz Square in the Kreuzberg district under the motto, “The demand for freedom can’t be baned - Joint struggle against the Police Act, PKK ban and nationalism”.

German people ensured strong participation in the march in solidarity with the Kurdish people and their struggle against the German state’s ban on the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) which has been in effect since November 26, 1993. Protesters demanded an end to the criminalization policy of Germany against Kurdish activists, leftist and democratic circles. Speeches made before the march condemned the increasingly right-wing policies of the German state and their cooperation with the Turkish state. The crowd also put up banners that read “Long live the fight against fascism” and “Long live international solidarity” in the square.

Marching in front of the large city town hall (Roteshaus) in Berlin, activists walking behind the banner ‘The PKK belongs to Germany’ (the Taz headline in 2014), were chanting slogans and carried banners reclaiming the PKK as ‘anticapitalist’ and ‘a women's movement’.

Demonstrators also condemned the US decision to put a bounty on three senior figures of the Kurdish freedom struggle, Murat Karayılan, Cemil Bayık and Duran Kalkan. Posters of the mentioned PKK leaders were carried by a number of people.

The mass voiced their solidarity with the Kurdish freedom movement which they stressed “is legitimate and cannot be criminalized”.

More than 5 thousand people joined the march, from Kurdistan, Turkey, Germany and other nations.

Police often interrupted the march as demonstrators chanted “Bijî Serok Apo” (Long Live President Öcalan), a slogan prohibited by the Berlin state in recent years. Police warned the crowd that the march would not be allowed as long as the slogan in question continued to be chanted.

In response to the police, the crowd chanted “Bijî Serok Apo” even more loudly and then unfurled the banned posters of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Towards the end of the march, protesters also unfurled a huge flag of the PKK, giving the message that the German state’s persistent ban has no meaning in the eye of the Kurdish people and their friends. Gerdan police staged a crackdown on the mass after the PKK flag was unfurled, facing resistance from the demonstrators who managed to make it to the rally grounds.

The rally that followed the march at Spreewaldplatz Square of Kreuzberg witnessed speeches which urged the Merkel government to stop the cooperation with Erdogan regime and arms sale to the Turkish state that wages a genocidal war against the Kurdish people.