Thousands of Kurds marched to the Kurdish Community Center in the London borough of Haringey, after the raid by the British police. The march was organized by the Democratic Forces Union.
HIKMET ERDEN
LONDON
Friday, 29 November 2024, 10:34
Thousands of Kurds marched to the Kurdish Community Center in the London borough of Haringey, after the raid by the British police. The march was organized by the Democratic Forces Union.
Following the simultaneous operation by the British police on 27 November against the London Kurdish Community Center and Kurdish activists, the protests initiated by the Kurds and their friends continue. The interrogation of the 7 Kurds taken into custody in the operation continues at the police station. It was reported that the British police applied to the court to extend the detention period of the Kurdish activists for another 7 days with a court order.
It was learned that the 6 Kurds taken into custody during the protests the day before were released, but they were banned from entering the Haringey area.
The police occupation of the Kurdish Community Center building continues.
The front of the KCC building continues to be closed with iron barricades. In addition to the barricade, hundreds of police are constantly on standby. It was also learned that the investigation of the anti-terror teams and intelligence officers in the KCC building continues.
While Kurds set up tents on the street where the occupied KCC building is located, a group of hunger strikers continue their protest opposite the police barricade.
Meanwhile, restaurants, cafés and markets in Haringey have closed their doors for several hours to protest the police occupation of the Kurdish Community Center. Hundreds of people have visited the tent where the hunger strikers are located throughout the day, and tensions have frequently erupted between the police and the public.
Yusuf Açıl on behalf of the United British Democratic Forces, said that dozens of British politicians, such as British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, have visited the Kurdish Community Center many times. "Those who come and ask for support from these institutions are raiding the KCC today. Then our duty is to defend our institutions without taking any steps back. This position is a position created by the Kurds. We will defend our position until the end. There is no stepping back an inch."
Lawyer Has: Police in London are posing as Turkish prosecutors
Lawyer Ali Has said that police in London are posing as Turkish prosecutors by asking about political cases in Turkey.
ANF
LONDON
Thursday, 28 November 2024, 10:34
The first day of interrogation of 7 Kurdish activists who were taken into custody in London in raids on the Kurdish Community Center and homes by the Anti-Terror Teams affiliated with the Metropolitan Police in England has ended.
The health conditions of Kurdish People's Assembly co-chair Türkan Budak, KHM employee Ercan Akbal, Kurdish politician and writer Ali Poyraz, Kurdish Foreign Relations Representative Agit K., Kurdish women activist Berfin K., Kurdish youth Mazlum S. and Doğan K., who were detained after their homes were broken with sledgehammers by police, are good.
British police detained the Kurdish activists on the basis of the Anti-Terror Law. Questions about the PKK were asked during the first day of questioning.
The lawyer of the Kurdish activists, Ali Has, said that no concrete evidence has been presented so far. He said that police put the Kurdish Community Center through the criminalization process with this operation, and added: "They divide the interrogation into several parts. General questions about the PKK; are you a member or a sympathizer? Clearly, they are trying to associate my clients with that organization. They have not presented anything concrete at the moment. This is pure criminalization."
They are trying to intimidate Kurdish society
Lawyer Has said that the Kurdish activists were asked questions like 'We think you are a terrorist. What do you think?'. He added: "The interrogations were not based on anything concrete. There are no complaints about my clients. These are predetermined names. They are all taken at the same time. Simultaneous raids are carried out. Normally, they would go at 7 in the morning. However, simultaneous raids are carried out at 03:00 at night. This is practically torture at that time of night."
Lawyer Has drew attention to the fact that the operation was prepared in advance, and added that, while the Kurdish centre was being raided, news of the raid was simultaneously served to all newspapers.
The lawyer said that the police were trying to turn a civilian institution into something criminal, and added: "What they are saying is, there is a picture of Abdullah Öcalan, there are pictures of martyrs... These alone are not elements of a crime. Moreover, the centre is private property."
Has drew attention to the fact that the police asked young activists Doğan K. and Mazlum S. about the political cases filed against them in Turkey, and said that, in fact, "police were posing as the Turkish prosecutor."
The lawyer added: "The police are trying to put the Kurdish Community Center in a difficult position, claiming that it is the headquarters of the PKK in England. And the reason for the arrest is Article 41. The National Security Act was passed in England in 2023. While that law was being passed, an addition was also made to the Terrorism Act. According to this article, the police are granted extensive powers and the right to question anyone without concrete evidence that they have committed any crime under the Terrorism Act. Currently, Kurdish activists have been detained based on this article."
Lawyer Has said: "The force used is disproportionate. They want to intimidate the Kurdish community here and create fear."
Kurds in London condemn attacks on Kurdish Community Centre
On Wednesday, British police raided the London Kurdish Community Centre (KCC) and the homes of many Kurdish patriots and politicians.The Kurdish Community in London issued a statement condemning ...
Jeremy Corbyn: Attack on the Kurdish Community Centre is an attack on us all
“The Kurds have changed our part of London for the better – and their resolve is an inspiration to millions of us seeking to build a more just and peaceful world,” said MP Jeremy Corbyn.
ANF
NEWS DESK
Friday, 29 November 2024
Following the simultaneous operation by the British police on 27 November against the London Kurdish Community Center and Kurdish activists, the protests initiated by the Kurds and their friends continue. The interrogation of the 7 Kurds taken into custody in the operation continues at the police station. It was reported that the British police applied to the court to extend the detention period of the Kurdish activists for another 7 days with a court order.
Jeremy Corbyn, former Labour Party leader and currently an Independent MP for Islington North in the British Parliament, made a statement on the operation against the Kurdish Community Centre and its employees.
The statement by Corbyn includes the following:
“I am deeply alarmed by the raid on the Kurdish Community Centre by large numbers of riot police.
The Centre is an important cultural space for the diverse and inclusive communities of North London. It provides support for refugees who have fled war and persecution, and a space for the Kurdish community to come together. Its services and classes are a lifeline for many.
Attacks on one community's institutions or its democratic freedoms is an attack on us all.
I am proud to represent a constituency with a vibrant Kurdish community. They have changed our part of London for the better – and their resolve is an inspiration to millions of us seeking to build a more just and peaceful world.”
The protest came after police raided the Kurdish Community Centre in Haringey, north London
On the protest to demand Kurdish rights in north London (Picture: Guy Smallman)
Thursday 28 November 2024
Over 1,000 people took to the streets of north London on Thursday night in solidarity with the Kurdish Community Centre (KCC).
Kurdish organisations, socialists and trade unionists rallied outside Turnpike Lane station in Haringey.
Police had raided the KCC the previous day. They had arrested seven people for alleged involvement with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a proscribed organisation in Britain.
The Kurdish People’s Assembly in the UK is based in the KCC building, which police have now barricaded.
One Kurd directly affected by the police arrests told Socialist Worker, “My people are being criminalised—for what? The Kurds do not deserve this kind of treatment. The community centre is where we can have an identity after fleeing Turkey’s repressive regime.
“The police have retraumatised a traumatised community and are behaving as if they were hired by the Turkish state.
“We are reliving every single thing we tried to leave. The message to Kurds is that Britain is not a democratic country.”
The protester added, “The Kurds are not terrorists but we are being called that and harassed. It’s constant oppression that is affecting all of us. We face an increasingly authoritarian government, with increasing police power, and they want to pit us against each other.
“They make it seem like we face different issues, but it’s all the same thing and it’s all capitalism.”
The rally marched loudly and militantly towards the KCC chanting, “Free, free KCC,” and, “UK shame on you.”
An activist from the Young Struggle group said to Socialist Worker, “We’ve seen this before in France, Germany and Belgium. But this hit us a little hard because now the British state has an operation.
“It was very much a targeted and planned attempt—it’s not just one random house raid but it’s a plan.”
“I have never seen anything as serious as this current repression against the Kurdish community in the UK,” long-time activist for Kurdish liberation Mark Campbell told Socialist Worker.
“This is to show Turkey that the British government is cracking down on the Kurds. Keir Starmer and the Labour Party are quite happy to show how amazing they are at cracking down.
“Never ever has there been any suggestion of terrorism from the Kurds in this country. These are people who are political asylum seekers who are simply trying to campaign and raise awareness for the Kurdish people’s struggle in Turkey.”
Mark slammed Labour and foreign secretary and north London MP David Lammy as “one of the biggest betrayers”. “Ironically, the Kurdish people went out campaigning for him,” he said. “He was actually on the management committee of the KCC.”
As the march approached the KCC, police rushed to barricade the community centre. Protesters clashed with the police as cops blocked them from getting to the centre.
After the clash, one Kurdish activist said, “I can see very clearly that the police are trying to provoke us. We are trying to have a peaceful demonstration—please stop provoking us.”
Protesters continued to defy the police, singing and dancing outside the KCC. The whole labour movement should oppose the crackdown and support the Kurdish freedom struggle.
Kurdish Community demand decriminalisation after violent police attacks
NOVEMBER 28, 2024
Not for the first time, a north London Kurdish Community Centre has been targeted by police. What lies behind the latest arrests?
In the early hours of 27th November, Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism officers raided the homes of six Kurdish activists, reportedly inflicting emotional and physical violence on their families, including children. They have now been expelled from their homes, and will not be allowed to return for 14 days.
At the same time, units invaded the Kurdish Community Centre (KCC) on Green Lanes in Haringey in northeast London, reportedly inflicting the same violence on those staying there and barricading the property. Hundreds of riot police in armoured vans, accompanied by police dogs and helicopters, imposed a military-like occupation of the surrounding area, harassing residents who gathered to oppose the attack on the centre of their community life. Airspace over Haringey was closed, and police units stayed long into the night. Reports of police brutality are shocking, including allegedly striking a child and beating elderly community members. People in the Community Centre were reportedly handcuffed and made to stand outside in the rain while the police undertook their search.
A member of one of the targeted households said: “I awoke suddenly at 2am and thought an earthquake had hit. The door of my house was smashed in and fifteen balaclava-clad police officers appeared at the top of the stairs and jumped on my husband, brutally beating and then arresting him. Soon after my 15-year old son appeared, and police jumped on him and started beating him also. He and I screamed, telling them that he is a child and then they stopped.
“In my more than 23 years living in Britain I have never experienced anything like this. My entire family is shaken to the core, and my son is suffering terribly from the traumatic experience. The police won’t even allow us to go home to retrieve his school uniform.”
The UK Kurdish community comprises many refugees who fled cultural and political persecution in Turkey. Yet Kurds with Turkish citizenship and family connections to regions ruled by Turkey are regularly harassed at the UK border, and their community organizations are routinely criminalised and targeted by British state institutions.
This longstanding state harassment of this community saw an unprecedented escalation this week, say campaigners. It is a telling ‘coincidence’, they say, that a UK minister has been visiting Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, so that this attack prefaces their talks on trade and arms deals.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg reminded us of the plight of Kurds, tweeting this week: “Recently I have been travelling through northern Kurdistan, and have met with Kurdish people from all different kinds of backgrounds. They told countless stories of the current systematic oppression and repression they face – especially from the Turkish state –, as well as a history full of massacres.”
She added that the Turkish government “continues to use ‘terrorism’ as a pretext to silence its political opponents. Tens of thousands of politically active individuals remain imprisoned without fair trials. International organizations such as the ECHR, UN, and Amnesty have condemned this and call for their release.”
Haringey’s Kurdish Community Centre, argue its supporters, is a crucial space where community members, neighbours, and all those interested, can engage with the ideas of a movement advocating for a democratic solution for Kurdistan, the wider region and across the world, based on the principles of women’s liberation, ecology and participatory democracy. Green Lanes has long provided a home for the Kurdish community in London, a refuge where they contribute to the area’s rich diversity, and London’s celebrated multiculturalism. The KCC on Green Lanes is the hub of this vibrant community, providing music and language classes, supplementary schools, cultural celebrations, concerts, shared meals, and many other activities.
The KCC and Kurdish community have done all this in the face of constant surveillance and suspicion. Now, with this unprecedented attack, their contribution to London and the UK’s cultural life is under severe threat, say campaigners, bringing to the streets of Britain scenes identical to those found in repressive, autocratic states like Turkey.
One community member said: “As a community we are in shock at the violent attack against us. Despite decades of mistreatment by the British state, in our time living here in Britain, we have never witnessed such violent attacks and invasion of our community space. What has taken place, the premeditated violence and the lies about our community have shattered all trust with local authorities. It will also have dire implications for the democratic rights and freedoms of everybody in Britain.”
The Metropolitan Police have claimed that their attack is part of a longstanding, serious investigation into the arrested activists, claimed to be connected to terrorist activity. However, apparently no charges have been brought against any of those arrested.
Aso Kamali, co-chair of the Kurdish People’s Assembly Britain, told Novara Media that the actions of the police showed that Kurds in the UK were a “community being discriminated against for the nature of their ethnicity.” Kamali said she was left bleeding following the raid and may need to go to hospital.
Attempts to criminalise the Kurdish community rest on the listing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as a proscribed terrorist organisation. In 2020, however, the Belgian courts ruled after a ten-year long legal case that the PKK is not a terrorist organisation, but is a party to an internal armed conflict as defined in international law. The PKK’s proscription in the UK appears to be being used more broadly against Turkish and Kurdish democrats and progressives.
Novara Media also reported that the KCC’s anniversary celebration on 27th November last year was also raided by the police, though that time they were pushed back by Kurds at the Community Centre and forced to leave. They also pointed out that supporting the release from prison of PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, who has been in prison in Turkey since 1999, does not constitute overt support for the PKK, and the Freedom for Ocalan campaign is supported by many trade unions. Foreign Secretary David Lammy, whose Tottenham constituency contains the biggest proportion of diaspora Kurds in the UK, has previously voiced support for the campaign to release Ocalan. In 2016, David Lammy was photographed at a protest where Kurdish groups displayed flags including the proscribed PKK flag.
Jeremy Corbyn MP reacted with concern to the police operation, tweeting: “I am deeply alarmed by the raid on the Kurdish Community Centre by large numbers of riot police. The Centre is an important cultural space for the diverse and inclusive communities of North London. It provides support for refugees who have fled war and persecution, and a space for the Kurdish community to come together. Its services and classes are a lifeline for many. Attacks on one community’s institutions or its democratic freedoms is an attack on us all.”
Campaigners are demanding:
- The immediate release of community members, and a full explanation for their arrest.
- An end to the occupation of the KCC, so that it can immediately resume essential community services.
- An end to the criminalisation of the Kurdish community, including the harassment of activists.
- The delisting of the PKK as a proscribed terrorist organisation, and a meaningful UK contribution t o a democratic peace process in Turkey.
- A public apology from the Metropolitan Police and the Mayor of London, in his capacity as Police and Crime Commissioner for London, and a public affirmation of the inviolability of essential community spaces and services, as well as a commitment to their maintenance and protection.
Image: Metropolitan police counter-terrorism officers. https://the-siu.org.uk/uk-and-us-cooperate-to-arrest-man-for-funding-terrorism/ Creator: rawpixel.com / Sergeant Matt Hecht | Credit: rawpixel.com / Sergeant Matt Hecht. Licence: CC0 1.0 Universal CC0 1.0 Deed
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