"Turkey is invading the Rojava (self-proclaimed Kurdish autonomous zone in the north-east of Syria, Ed), Europe contemplates". Several thousand people gathered on Saturday, October 12, in Paris as well as in several French and European cities to support the Kurds of Syria in the face of the military offensive launched by Turkey for several days.
The demonstration in Paris - which gathered 20,000 people, according to the organizers - took place at the call of the Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDK-F). "Erdogan, terrorist!", "Rojava, resistance!" Chanted the crowd.
"Turkey is trying to carry out an ethnic cleansing and reinforce jihadism (...) to kneel the West, since the beginning of the invasion operation of the Turkish army, dormant cells of Islamic State organization) have committed attacks (...) this is a major risk, "said Agit Polat, spokesman for CDK-F.
The official urged "concrete sanctions" against Turkey, such as "closing Syrian airspace to Turkish aviation", "placing the entire civilian population of northern Syria under UN protection" and "concrete economic sanctions of the European Union and the United States".
Several French parliamentarians from left-wing parties (Radical Left, Socialist and Ecologist) succeeded each other in a platform to denounce the Turkish offensive.
Events in Frankfurt, Athens, Brussels ...
In Marseille, several thousand Kurds marched - 1,500 according to the police, 6,000 according to the organizers. "Europe must speak with one voice: France must defend the Kurds," said Deniz, 38, from Turkey.
Rallies were also held in Strasbourg - between 800 and 1,000 people in Lyon, Lille and Bordeaux, where several hundred people denounced "Turkish military aggression" and "ethnic cleansing plans" of Ankara in Syrian Kurdistan.
Support for the Kurds also manifested in several other European countries on Saturday. In Germany, demonstrations have gathered "thousands of people" in several cities, according to the DPA news agency, which spoke about more than 10,000 demonstrators in Cologne and about 4,000 in Frankfurt.
Similar rallies were held in Cyprus, Athens, Warsaw, Brussels and The Hague.
With AFP