The events of the Free Women's Movement (Tevgera Jinên Azad, TJA) and the Women's Council of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on the International Women's Day of Struggle in Northern Kurdistan and Turkey take place this year under the motto "We organise the resistance and run for freedom".

In the run-up to a rally at Istasyon Square in Amed (Diyarbakir), the police blocked all access routes. Women from Mardin and Urfa have arrived on the square already in the early morning hours. Wearing colourful traditional dresses, the women are dancing and shouting slogans like "Jin Jiyan Azadî" (Women, Life, Freedom) and "Resistance instead of obedience".

Meanwhile, the first police provocations have occurred on the Gevran Avenue. Members of various women's organisations had met in front of the Prestij Hotel to go together to the rally site. They carried banners and pictures of arrested mayors. The police confiscated the banners on the grounds that they had not been registered in advance with the police directorate. The women protested the obstruction.

The event began with a minute’s silence in memory of all those who lost their lives in the struggle. The rally is joined by numerous women from TJA, Rosa Women’s Association, MED-DER, Pir Sultan Abdal Association, HDP administrators and members, HDP deputies Semra Güzel, Remziye Tosun, HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan, TJA Spokesperson Ayşe Gökkan, Peace Mothers Assembly, DAKAP, ESP, SKM, ÖGK, HDP Young Women’s Council, NGOs, MED-TUHAD-FED, Başak Demirtaş, Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), DTK administrators.

After the opening speeches which stressed that the struggle of women will continue growing, HDP Amed MP Semra Güzel read the message sent by female prisoners in Diyarbakır D Type Prison. The prisoners highlighted the role of women in the revolution that blossoms in the current historic times as chaos reigns in the Middle East. The prisoners called on the Kurdish people to unite around resistance and lead the struggle to victory.