JINHA

NEWS CENTER - Across Northern Kurdistan yesterday, citizens held marches and actions in commemoration of the 27^th anniversary of the Halabja massacre.

On March 16, 1988, the Ba'ath regime deployed chemical weapons against the rebellious Kurdish town of Halabja. First came the smell of apples. The thousands of people experienced painful death. Around 5,000 died in the attack itself, with tens of thousands more wounded and suffering from long-term disease and birth defects.

The Democratic Regions Party (DBP), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Van Democracy Platform led a march in commemoration of the massacre, meeting with a police blockade. After an hour of argument with police, the marchers continued, with police following them, allegedly to ensure they were not too loud.

"All international forces stayed silent at the time of the Halabja massacre," said AycanErgün, the HDP's provincial director. She noted that now, colonial forces were supporting a new set of oppressors in Kurdistan: Daesh.

In Diyarbakır, youth attending the Middle Eastern Youth Conference over the weekend organized a protest and a moment of silence for the victims.

The Erciş town of Van gathered on the town's Halabja Street to remember the massacre. In Batman, citizens gathered behind the banner "Yesterday Halabja, today Shengal and Kobanê," referring to Daesh's genocidal attacks on civilians based on their Kurdish and Êzîdî identities.Members of the Free Students Association at Batman University also commemorated the massacre on campus.

In Mardin, citizens marched, in spite of rain, with photographs of the victims.

"Those, like Saddam, who try to massacre the Kurds can not stop this people's demand for freedom," said regional HDP Co-Chair Mehmet NezirAkaalp, "and they will have the same end as Saddam."

The spirit of continuing struggle was a theme at the protests yesterday, in a period when Kurds have now realized strong self-defense forces in the face of ongoing anti-Kurdish attacks in the region. Mourning was marked by a sense of resistance.

The Congress of Free Women (KJA) condemned the massacre in a statement.

"While the Kurdish people, armed in their struggle for freedom with a living memory of pain, grow closer to victory, on March 16 a strong smell of apples rises from the land of Kurdistan."

(ekip/dc/za/zd/cm)