PKK supporters clash with German police; 5 arrested

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN

German police used tear gas to disperse crowds during a pro-PKK rally on Saturday in the the northern city of Dusseldorf.

The police interrupted the rally after supporters of the terrorist group PKK insisted on carrying banned symbols, including images of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed PKK leader.

At least 5 protestors were arrested after they threw bottles, sticks and other objects to the police.

Dusseldorf police took stricter measures on Saturday, after Turkey criticized German authorities heavily last moth over a pro-PKK rally in the city of Cologne, where protesters carried banned symbols of the terrorist group.

The PKK was banned in Germany in 1993, following violent protests carried out by group members in the country.

In March this year, Germany’s federal interior ministry updated its list of prohibited symbols used by the PKK, and also included posters of Ocalan, which was used for the propaganda of the terrorist organization.

Mustafa Yeneroglu, a senior lawmaker of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, has said that banning PKK symbols was not adequate enough.

“Ankara expects a full implementation of the PKK ban, that means prohibiting all activities of the terrorist organization, not only prohibiting its symbols,” he tweeted on Saturday.

Yeneroglu further called on German authorities to ban the PKK-affiliated organization NAV-DEM which organized recent pro-PKK rallies.

PKK's continued propaganda, recruitment, and fund-raising activities remain the main source of tensions between Turkey and its NATO partner Germany.

The terrorist group has nearly 14,000 followers among Germany’s Kurdish immigrant population, according to the German domestic intelligence agency BfV.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization also by the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its armed campaign in July 2015.

Since then, it has been responsible for the deaths of some 1,200 Turkish security personnel and civilians, including a number of women and children.