Newroz which is the resistance feast of the Middle Eastern people was celebrated in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan with mass activities. While in Kurdistan ten thousands went on the streets in the cities and provinces, only in Amed it were almost 1 million people celebrating Newroz. During the celebrations, the masses mainly raised demands against the annihilation and denial policy of the Turkish state.
In Amed, people in their traditional clothes started to move towards the place of the Newroz celebration from the morning on. Fires were lighted at many different quarters of the city. While the majority of the shopkeepers closed their shops, the masses celebrating Newroz constantly shouted the slogans "Murderer Erdogan" and "Ocalan." Many different banners in Kurdish and Turkish were hung up read "Edi Bes e" (It's been enough) and "No to the cross-border operations."
Former DEP deputy Leyla Zana held a speech in Kurdish saluting the Kurdish people defending their identity. Other speeches, too, focused on peace and brotherhood of the people.
ESP activists met Amed people
The ESP activists who had set off on 16 March in Istanbul with the demand "Labourer solution to the Kurdish question" and had travelled through different cities and organised different activities came to Amed to celebrate Newroz together with the Kurdish people. 100 ESP activists shouted the slogans "Labourer solution to the Kurdish question" and "Long live the people's brotherhood." With their red hardhats and blue workwears the ESP activists raised their protest against the military operations. When the ESP activists arrived at Amed in the early morning hours on Newroz and marched towards the place of the celebration, they were tried to be stopped by the police. However, with the solidarity of the Kurdish people, the ESP activists managed to make the police give up its arbitrary attitude.