Kurds protest in Bonn

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

Kurds protest in Bonn against Ocalan extradition 
09:23 a.m. Nov 17, 1998 Eastern 

BONN, Nov 17 (Reuters) - German police said about 4,000 Kurds
protested in Bonn on Tuesday against the possible extradition from
Italy of Kurdish guerrilla Abdullah Ocalan who is Turkey's most wanted
man.

About 50 of the Kurds were on hunger strike, police said. 

Carrying banners with pictures of Ocalan, leader of the banned
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), demonstrators marched through the city
from the government quarter to the Interior Ministry.

Ocalan was arrested at Rome's Fiumicino airport on Thursday and was
being held at an undisclosed location.

Turkey has demanded his extradition but the request is unlikely to be
met unless Ankara scraps capital punishment. Under the Italian
constitution, Rome can not extradite suspects to a country where the
death penalty is in force.

Ocalan has issued a statement saying he would work to halt terrorism.

Some 4,000 Kurdish supporters of Ocalan from across Europe have
gathered in Rome to hold what has been a largely peaceful vigil to
press for their leader's release.

Germany is home to more than two million Turkish citizens, around a
quarter of whom are Kurds.

-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan!
Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org                          
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