Launched in front of the Council of Europe in 2012 and carried out uninterruptedly to today, the Freedom for Öcalan Vigil is held seven days a week from morning to evening every day for the past seven years. Activists inform passers by about the hunger strike resistance, Kurdish people’s leader Öcalan and the Vigil itself.

The Vigil has been taken over this week by a new group of Kurdish activists coming from the German city of Kassel.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Seroxan Akad underlined that the Kurdish people will never leave Öcalan alone who -he recalled- has led the Kurdish people’s struggle for emancipation from captivity. Akad remarked that for this reason, the Kurdish people owe much to Öcalan, and will definitively ensure his freedom.

Akad called on the Kurds in Europe to participate in the Vigil.

The Freedom for Öcalan Vigil started on June 25, 2012 to call for an end to the aggravated isolation imposed upon Öcalan and to raise awareness for his freedom. Before the vigil, a Long March was held from Geneva to Strasbourg in February 2012 and a hunger strike of 52 days was held during the months of March and April. Representatives from various institutions in Europe and politicians had participated in the hunger strike.

The Freedom for Öcalan Vigil was launched after these demonstrations, and in the seven years since, hundreds of thousands of flyers, brochures and booklets have been handed out and Öcalan’s ideas have been communicated to people from dozens of countries throughout the world.

More than two thousand activists have taken over the vigil up to date. Artists, politicians, journalists and European allies have taken part in person.