Many thousands of pro-Kurdish demonstrators marched today at noon in its center Colognecalling for the release of their historic leader, the Abdullah Ocalanwho was arrested 25 years ago and remains imprisoned in Turkey.

A spokeswoman for the local police told AFP that “several thousand” people took part in the start of the rally. Organizers said they expected attendance to hover around 15,000. THE Germany hosts one of the largest Kurdish communities in the world since hundreds of thousands of Kurds or people of Kurdish origin live in this country.

Under the slogan “Freedom for A. Ocalan”, the demonstrators demanded the release of its leader Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who today is 74 years old. Ocalan was arrested on February 15, 1999 and is being held on the prison island of Imrali, outside Istanbul, in almost complete isolation. His family has not heard from him since March 2021 and he last spoke to his lawyers in 2019.