Before the rally organised by the Democratic Institutions Platform with the slogan ‘We resist against the conspiracy, we meet in Amed for freedom’, many locations in Amed (Diyarbakır) were blockaded by the Turkish state forces. A number of streets and avenues of the city, especially the İstasyon (Station) Square, were blocked by armoured vehicles.
A number of people, including DEM Party MPs, gathered on Göçmenler Street in the Fatih neighbourhood of Bağlar district and marched towards İstasyon Square. Police forces tried to prevent the march. Many other people gathered in front of AZC Plaza in the Ofis neighbourhood, one of the gathering places for the rally.
On the other hand, thousands of citizens who wanted to go to Amed from different cities were prevented by the police on the grounds of the ban decisions taken by the governorships. After the preventions, sit-in protests started in many cities.
In many places in Turkey, buses on their way to Amed were stopped by the police. A bus with forty people from Çanakkale and Balıkesir was stopped and checked seven times on Saturday evening, and in Bursa the bus was not allowed to continue. The people protested against the measure with a sit-in. In Ankara, people who had gathered in Kurtuluş Park to travel together to Amed were surrounded by police. The DEM Party headquarters in Yüksekova has been besieged by a large police force since Saturday morning. In Mersin, Adana, Dersim, Urfa, Batman, Siirt and Van, departures to Amed have also been prevented.
As the İstasyon Square was blockaded before the rally, people gathered at many points in the city. Thousands of people came together in Ofis neighbourhood, one of the gathering places. Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK) Co-spokesperson Cengiz Çiçek, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chairs Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar and Keskin Bayındır, Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Co-Chairs Tuncer Bakırhan and Tülay Hatimoğulları, Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan’s brother Mehmet Öcalan also attended the meeting.
People frequently chant the slogans ‘Bijî Serok Apo’ (Long Live Leader Öcalan) and ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’ (Woman, Life, Freedom) as they have started the Freedom March from many points of the city.
Young people are organising a march on the streets of Bağlar district with the slogan ‘Bijî Serok Apo’.
In the meantime, people travelling from Mardin and Şırnak to join the rally in Amed reached the Çınar district of Amed. The people started to march to the centre of Amed, defying the police barrier.
The people travelling from Urfa were stopped at Pirinçli Police Point at the entrance to Amed. The crowd then started to march on foot.
Source: ANF News