JINHA

AMED – As women attempt to march across the city of Diyarbakır on the third anniversary of the Paris murder of three Kurdish women politicians, police have blocked the march and threatened to attack.

On January 9, 2013, three Kurdish women politicians—Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez—were murdered in the heart of Paris. The women’s organization KJA (Congress of Free Women) called a march from Diyarbakır’s Batıkent Square to İstasyon Square today, the third anniversary of the killing.

Women are continuing to flood toward the march, now hundreds strong, where attendees are chanting the slogan “martyrs never die.” The main banner features photographs of the three victims of the Paris massacre, as well as the three Kurdish women politicians slain by state forces in the town of Silopi on Monday.

As women attempted to march to İstasyon Square, police blocked the march with barricades and lines of armored vehicles. Police have told women that they will not permit the march and are prepared to intervene.

(be-mt/gc/cm)