Following simultaneous operations by the British police against Kurdish Community Centre (KCC) employees and Kurdish activists in London early Wednesday morning, the resistance continues. The co-chair of the Kurdish People's Assembly, Türkan Budak, Kurdish People's Assembly (KHM) employee Ercan Akbal, Kurdish politician and writer Ali Poyraz, Kurdish Foreign Relations Representative Agit K. Kurdish female activist Berfin K. Kurdish youngsters Mazlum S. and Doğan K., who were detained during raids where the doors of their houses were broken with sledgehammers, were questioned at the police station. Kurdish citizens are resisting on the street where the Kurdish Community Centre is located, occupied by the police following a raid.

The Kurds stated that the police occupation was realised at the request of the Turkish state and demanded that the British police give up their attack. The British police responded harshly to the demand and attempted to close the street where the KCC building is located with iron barriers. Kurds tried to prevent the police from setting up barriers. While the police attacked the people, many people, including women, were injured and two Kurdish women were hospitalised.

Those injured and beaten said, “We came here fleeing from the oppression of the Turkish state. Now we are facing the oppression of the British. They should be ashamed. They are doing this to us because the Turkish state wanted it.”

While the police prevented people from approaching the KCC building, the searches by anti-terror teams continued throughout the day. The British intelligence officers, who covered their faces with black masks, confiscated all technical equipment, flags and archives of the organisation. While the materials were being transported to the police headquarters in vans, Kurds protested against the vehicles of the intelligence agents by shouting ‘Shame on you’ and ‘Immoral’.

Activists set up tents in front of the police barricade, singing songs reflecting the values of the Kurdish people. Internationalists also supported the demonstrators. British internationalists protesting the attack against the Kurdish people's institution in front of the police barricade emphasised that a historical shame was committed against a people who have been fighting against the barbaric ISIS gangs for the honour of the world.

Irish journalist Mark Campbell criticised the police and the British government and said that the PKK saved the honour of humanity in the Middle East. To Mark Campbell's question ‘What is the PKK for you?’ the people responded with the slogan ‘PKK is the people, and the people are here’.

Masses in front of the Kurdish Community Centre resisted the police on one hand and celebrated the Resurrection Day (founding of the PKK on 27 November 1978) in the middle of the barricades, and danced to the songs of artists Mir Perwer and Merwan Şan. During the celebration in front of the police barriers, slogans such as ‘PKK is the people, and the people are here’, ‘Down with fascism’, ‘Bijî serok Apo’, ‘Shame on you’, ‘Be serok jiyan nabe’, ‘Terrorist Turkish state’ were frequently chanted. Democratic mass organisations also sent a message to the celebration, during which songs were played and sung together.

Speaking here, İshak Milani, Co-Chair of the London Kurdish People's Assembly, stated that the Kurdish people should protect their institution and said: “Today is the anniversary of the founding of the Kurdish freedom movement. We are celebrating the national resurrection festival, which was gifted to us, with enthusiasm in this environment of oppression and persecution. We are giving the following message; this people is right. You can never tear them away from their cause and values. We are an honourable people. We will never leave our comrades or our organisation alone. We protect our values. We follow the path shown to us by our martyrs. We walk on the path of the democratic ecological women's libertarian paradigm that Reber Apo has shown us. Bijî PKK, bijî Reber Apo!’

Seyit Suruç, Co-Chair of the Kurdish People's Assembly in Britain, said the following: ‘”You are carrying out an operation against a people. You are organising an operation against our institutions and employees at the request of the Turkish state, which supports ISIS and has drenched the Middle East in blood. This is immoral and despicable. The British state thinks that they can intimidate us by raiding our organisations. We have been waging a breathless struggle for 47 years. Ask those who persecuted us. We have never kneeled down, never backed down. You cannot stop us with death, pressure and violence. Give up this dishonourable approach. And once again we say; Bijî Serok Apo, Bijî PKK!”

After the speeches, the people lit candles drawing the PKK flag because the flags and banners were seized. The crowd responded with applause, shouts and slogans.

In protest against the operations against Kurds, 6 people started a hunger strike. The hunger strikers continue their action in the tent set up on the street where the KCC building is located. Making a statement on behalf of the activists, Sara Devrim said, “We are resisting inside and outside. We will continue this action until this persecution stops, until our friends are released and the police leave the Kurdish institution.”

Feryal Clark Demirci, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for AI and Digital Government, also expressed her concern about the raid on the Kurdish Community Centre on her social media account, saying that she was aware of the unrest it caused in society and that she had forwarded the issue to the relevant ministers.

In addition, the Migrant Workers Cultural Association (Gik-Der) called for participation in the resistance in front of the KCC building, condemned the attack and called for increasing solidarity.

In the meantime, the Democratic Union of Forces (DGB), which consists of Kurdish, Alevi, revolutionary, leftist and socialist organisations and local institutions in London, will stage a protest march today. The march to the blockaded KCC building at Turnpike Line Station will start at 17.00. DGB called for strong participation in the march.