Paris: thousands of people pay tribute to the three Kurdish activists murdered in 2013

Europe 1 with AFP 7:13 p.m., January 7, 2023, modified at 7:14 p.m., January 7, 2023

Several thousand people from all over Europe marched in Paris on Saturday in tribute to three Kurdish activists murdered almost ten years ago to the day in the capital, AFP journalists noted.

This annual march, which has brought together the Kurdish community since 2013, comes a few days after the shock of the assassination, in the center of Paris, of three Kurds by a 69-year-old man, who confessed while in police custody to have acted by " hate that has become pathological" of foreigners.

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A black banner crossed out with photos of the murdered activists

Supervised by a very present order service, the procession set off at the end of the morning from the Gare du Nord behind a black banner crossed out with photos of the three militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) killed in 2013 and the slogan "the Turkish State has again massacred 3 Kurds in Paris".

According to the Paris police headquarters, they were 10,000 to participate in the march.

The organizers claim for their part "at least 25,000 demonstrators".

"Nothing can stop the freedom of the Kurds", "Truth and justice", "We want justice", chanted the demonstrators while rallying the place of the Republic passing by the places of the triple murders of 2013 and 2022. During the first, on the night of January 9 to 10, 2013, activists Sakine Cansiz, 54, Fidan Dogan, 28, and Leyla Saylemez, 24, were killed by multiple bullets to the head inside the information from Kurdistan (CIK) located in the 10th arrondissement of Paris.

The Kurdish community multiplies the gatherings

Their alleged assassin, Omer Güney, was quickly imprisoned but he died at the end of 2016 in prison, a few weeks before the opening of his trial before an assize court.

The French justice investigation, which had pointed to the "involvement" of the Turkish intelligence services (MIT) without, however, designating sponsors, is continuing.

MIT has officially denied any involvement.

The triple murder committed on December 23 aroused the anger of the Kurds of France who, despite the statements of the suspect and the first elements of the investigation delivered by the prosecution, continue to implicate Turkey.

The Kurdish community has multiplied the gatherings in the capital since these crimes.

Violent incidents had punctuated one of them, on December 24.

In Marseille, more than 1,200 people according to an estimate by AFP, 800 according to the police headquarters, joined the procession on Saturday which descended the Canebière, a famous artery in the heart of Marseille, towards the Old Port.

"People from all over the world live in the neighborhood where the attack took place, but it's only Kurdish people, in a street with businesses that everyone knows to be Kurdish, who were attacked," reacted to AFP Fatna, representative of the Kurdish democratic center of Montpellier who did not want to give her name, evoking the triple murder of last month.