PKK supporters clash with German police, five detained

BERLIN – Anadolu Agency

German police used tear gas to disperse crowds during an outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rally in the northern city of Dusseldorf on Nov. 4.

The police interrupted the rally after supporters of the PKK insisted on carrying banned symbols, including images of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.

At least five protestors were detained after they threw bottles, sticks and other objects at the police.

Turkey had criticized the German authorities last month after protesters carried banned symbols of the PKK at a rally in Cologne.

The PKK was banned in Germany in 1993 following violent protests carried out by group members in the country.

In March this year, Germany’s federal interior ministry updated its list of prohibited symbols used by the PKK and included posters of Öcalan.

Mustafa Yeneroğlu, a senior lawmaker of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AKP), has said banning PKK symbols is “not enough.”

“Ankara expects full implementation of the PKK ban, which means prohibiting all activities of the terrorist organization, not just prohibiting its symbols,” he tweeted on Nov. 4.

Yeneroğlu also called on German authorities to ban the PKK-affiliated organization NAV-DEM, which recently organized pro-PKK rallies.