mass arrest in Cologne

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>

COLOGNE, Germany (Reuter) - Police Saturday detained around 220 left-wing
protesters who tried to stage a banned demonstration in Cologne against
Turkey's treatment of its Kurdish population, a police spokesman said.

Authorities had forbidden the demonstration, saying they feared it could end in
violence. But the protesters, most of them Germans, gathered in the shadow of
the city's famous twin-towered cathedral to try to defy the ruling.

Hundreds of police officers dragged the demonstrators to nearby buses, then
transported them away from the scene.

Some protesters chanted: "Freedom for Kurdistan, freedom for us!" while others
shouted support for the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which is fighting
for autonomy or independence in southeastern Turkey.

Germany is host to more than 400,000 Kurds, most of whom are from Turkey.

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 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)