DERSİM - Police in Dersim attacked a rally organized by the HDP to draw attention to the hunger strike of political prisoners against the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan.
The HDP association in Dersim wanted to make a statement on the hunger strike of political prisoners against the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan on the central Sanat Sokağı and was prevented from doing so by the Turkish police. Police forces besieged the street, after which the press statement was read out directly in front of the HDP headquarters.
Özlem Toprak, co-chair of the local HDP association, recalled that a hunger strike action had been launched in the past to temporarily break the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan and the other three Imrali prisoners. "However, since August 2019, there is again a visit ban for the lawyers. This is in violation of the proposals of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the Law on Execution. The Ministry of Justice must immediately end this unlawful state of affairs. Contact with legal counsel and relatives must be made possible. In order to prevent future negative developments and possible deaths in prisons, we call on those responsible to act and we call on our people to pay attention," the HDP politician said.
While the statement was still underway, police attacked those present for carrying a banner reading "Meet demands, end hunger strike!" The banner was confiscated and torn. The HDP members retreated into the party building.