Rally of March 8 kicks off with march in Diyarbakır

2015-03-08 16:13:08

DİYARBAKIR (DİHA) - In Diyarbakır's Bağlar neighborhood, police brutalized and forcefully removed the red, green and yellow headscarves of women who were marching to the World Women's Day rally.

50 women, members of Bağlar'sFatih Neighborhood Assembly, set out for Diyarbakır's İstasyon Square this morning when police blocked their way. The police called the women's red, yellow and green headscarves (the traditional colors of the Kurdish people) "propaganda for an illegal organization" and attempted to seize them. The recent Internal Security Law, which contains articles forbidding traditional Kurdish clothing on the grounds that it is "propaganda," is causing outrage among Kurdish women today as they attempt to attend Women's Day celebrations in their regional clothes.

When the women reacted to the attempt to take away their red, green and yellow headscarves, police began to strike the women. Women police pinned downMekiyeÖzgün, who has a disk in her hip, and forcefully removed her headscarf. "I didn't give up. I went home and got a new one and I'm going to the square," said Mekiye, who said she and the other women were out in the streets to say no to women and femicide. "And we will be out in the square defending the rights of that woman who brutalized me, too."

Fikriye Tanrıkulu, one of the women attacked by the police, said, "This is our day. Our children are dying and it's our right to say no to this. And as women, to bear our colors is our most natural right. We want peace, but the state can't even tolerate these colors." İstasyon Square is continuing to fill with women gathering for the upcoming rally.

(cm/nt)