Sadness and anger, tears and closed faces.
On the Place de la République, black with people and bristling with flags, hundreds of people shouted Saturday, December 24 in Kurdish "Martyrs never die" and "truth and justice".
Gathered to pay tribute to the three people murdered on Friday in an attack near a Kurdish cultural center, the demonstrators waved red flags and posters bearing the image of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan.
A poster "tribute to the Kurdish militants killed.es, in Paris, December 24, 2022. © Lou Roméo, France 24
All say their concern and their anger, after the main suspect, a 69-year-old French pensioner called William M., motivated his act in police custody by his "racist" character.
A repeat offender, the suspect was released from prison on December 12, after a year in pre-trial detention for attacking migrants with sabers in 2021.
"We are welded"
"We came together today to show that we are still there even if we get killed, explains Leiza, 22. France really needs to respond to these crimes that are happening on its territory. Me, I am Franco-Kurdish, my parents fled their land to live here peacefully, to have the right to live their culture, to listen to Kurdish music, things that were forbidden to them. Seeing that they are being killed here too, c It's sad and it scares me. I'm here to show that we are united, and that we will always be there."
View of the rally on the Place de la République, on December 24, 2022, in Paris.
© Lou Romeo, France 24
Fesih, 40, shares the same bitterness.
He came this morning from Rennes (north-west) by car, with his three-year-old son.
"I'm here because my heart hurts, and because I'm angry," he says.
"It's important for us to come together, to bring our children, when we are once again targeted. Why is this happening to the Kurds?"
Marc-Johane, a 20-year-old Frenchman, came to support and denounce the role played by the "extreme right" in this "racist" attack.
“I came out of solidarity, explains the young man. The extreme right attacked, and it risks happening again, if we do not protect ourselves, we are heading for disaster. It started with speeches, and now this are murders!"
But they are few, in the crowd, to share this analysis.
The majority of the demonstrators evokes rather a participation of Turkey, at war with the PKK, although no element attests it at this stage of the investigation.
Friday's triple murder indeed echoes in the memory of the demonstrators the assassination of three Kurdish activists on January 9, 2013. Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez were indeed shot dead in a similar context and in murky circumstances that have never been elucidated, the main suspect having died of cancer before he could be judged.
The resemblance between the two cases has in any case not escaped the demonstrators, who hold up signs adorned with the faces of the victims.
"I want the truth"
"We are here today to commemorate our comrades who fell yesterday and to demand justice. This new assassination takes place almost ten years to the day after the triple feminicide", points out Ali, 22 years old.
"I think it's a planned act, engineered by the Turks. Erdogan threatened the Kurds in Europe a month ago, it's not trivial. I want the truth about everything that happened ."
For Evin, a 22-year-old Franco-Kurdish, it is therefore essential that the national anti-terrorist prosecution (Pnat) take up the case.
"We want this act to be recognized as terrorist and that light be shed entirely on the motivations of the shooter, believes the young woman, who came with her family and friends to the rally from Val-d'Oise, in Île-de- France. Our community has been targeted and I no longer feel safe, it could have been me! We want justice!"
The national anti-terrorist prosecutor's office (Pnat) went to the scene of the attack but for the time being, there is "no element which would favor the need for their referral", explained the Paris prosecutor, although the racist motive of the act was retained by the investigation.
But on the platform, speeches in Kurdish and French follow one another, and call for an in-depth investigation.
SOS Racisme, the Movement against racism and for friendship between peoples, and the League for Human Rights are present, as are several political leaders.
Sylvain Maillard, Renaissance deputy from Paris, promises the crowd: "nothing will be hidden, we must know exactly what happened yesterday, like what happened ten years ago", while the leader of France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, affirmed: "we ask that the national anti-terrorist prosecutor's office be seized. This is not an individual adventure."
"You're home"
Moved, the mayor of the 10th arrondissement spoke to this community very present in her neighborhood: "The 10th has been the land of the Kurds for decades, she said. I wanted to tell you our sad that Paris, land of welcome, is a land that frightens the Kurds. You are at home!
If his speech is drowned out by applause, fear and anger strewn the crowd.
"The French government does not protect us, denounces Konak, a 37-year-old Franco-Kurdish. We are here to protest, while we are being massacred. We are Kurds, 50 million people divided between four countries, we do not have of state, and too many problems. We fought against Daesh, and all we want is to protect our people."
The face of one of the victims killed yesterday, Emine Kara, also known by her nom de guerre Evîn Goyî, is thus printed on many placards.
The young woman had fought Daesh before going into exile in France to heal her war wounds and take care of the Kurdish Women's Movement in France.
Arriving a year ago, her asylum application had just been refused by OFPRA.
Two men also lost their lives in the attack on Friday: a regular at the cultural center, Abdulrahman Kizil, and a Kurdish singer and political refugee, Mir Pewer.
Shortly after 1:30 p.m., clashes broke out on the sidelines of the rally, and the police used tear gas to disperse people who were damaging street furniture in the adjacent streets.
But the calls for calm launched from the platform were followed on the square, until the departure in demonstration of the procession, which set off at 2 p.m. to go to the Place de la Bastille.
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