London: Hundreds protest in solidarity with Kurdish hunger strikers

(NewsPoint) –More than one hundred people disrupted roads in and around Westminster on Tuesday in solidarity with the 700 Kurdish prisoners on hunger strike in over 50 different prisons.

Among those on hunger strike are several leaders of the chief Kurdish party, the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). They are accused of ties to the outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has for decades sought autonomy for the Kurds.

The detainees are surviving on salted or sweetened water and vitamins alone in a strike that has gained momentum since it began with several dozen detainees last month. The strike began on September 12, the anniversary of a military coup in 1980, with a host of demands including the release of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and an end to Kurdish language restrictions.

The protest comes as fighting between Kurdish rebels and the army appears to be escalating. The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, took up arms for autonomy in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.