The Freedom For Öcalan Vigil that continues in front of the Council of Europe (CoE) in Strasbourg was taken over by a new group of activists from Germany’s Giessen this week.

The group includes Siegen People’s Assembly members, and consists of Kurds named Ekrem Hezexi, Osman Rojava, Emin Resul and Rojhat Zaxo.

The statement read in the name of the Giessen group pointed to the importance of the Freedom Vigil on its fifth year. The activists stressed that Öcalan’s freedom is the same with the freedom of the Kurdish people and underlined that they will protect Öcalan, the martyrs and the freedom struggle.

The activists said they were expecting 2017 to be the year when Öcalan and the Kurdish people are free, and stated that the Kurds “proved themselves” for all the world to see, united around Öcalan’s ideas.

The activists made a call to the Kurdish people and said the struggle was going through a significant period and Kurds should increase the efforts in every area.

The Freedom For Öcalan Vigil is held in Robertsau district, which is home to the Council of Europe, as well as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the European Parliament (EP), Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and other such institutions. The vigil continues through all 7 days of the week and is the longest-running demonstration held by Kurds without a single day break in between.