JINHA

NEWS CENTER - Yesterday, thousands of women across Turkey took to the streets to protest Turkish police who stripped and displayed the naked body of guerrilla Kevser Eltürk (nom de guerre Ekin Wan).

Thousands marched in protest of the treatment of Ekin Wan in the eastern city of Şırnak. "Ekin Wan's naked body is our honor," read the women's banner. "When it stripped Ekin, the male state once again revealed its own rapist patriarchy," said Congress of Free Women (KJA) activist Emine Erkan, speaking at the march. The women held a sit-in at the end of their march.

In central Istanbul, the KJA called for a sit-in for Ekin Wan outside of Galatasaray High School, in the downtown Taksim area. Police, citing "the safety of civilians," told the women to move the event to the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) provincial building. When women objected, riot police used their shields to push women as far as the HDP building, where they read a statement promising to continue Ekin's struggle.

In Turkey's capital, the Ankara Women's Platform called a protest against the treatment of Ekin's body. Women carried signs depicting Turkish politicians with blood on their faces. "You're responsible for all the deaths," read the signs. Another protest took place in the Çınar district of Diyarbakır province.

(gc/sö-en/dk/de/mg/cm)