Demonstrators have clashed with police in London after the arrest of seven people suspected of being involved in terrorist activity linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party.
Four men aged 23, 27, 56 and 62, and two women aged 31 and 59, who were detained on Wednesday morning, along with a 31-year-old man arrested in the afternoon, are being questioned at a police station in the UK capital, the Metropolitan Police said.
Officers are searching eight addresses across London, including the Kurdish Community Centre in the Haringey area. Protesters gathered near the community centre following the initial arrests and more officers were sent to the area, said the Met.
Scuffles broke out as demonstrators tried to stop police setting up barriers after officers formed two lines blocking a road to the community centre. Four people at the protest were arrested.
The the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984 for greater rights for the country's significant Kurdish minority. It is banned as a terrorist organisation in the UK, as well as by the US, the EU and others.
Acting Commander Helen Flanagan, of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said the arrests follow “a significant investigation” into activity which the force believes is “linked to the terrorist group PKK”.
“These are targeted arrests of those we suspect of being involved in terrorist activity linked to the group,” she said. “I hope that these arrests show that we will not tolerate any sort of terrorist activity and that we will take action where we believe there is harm being caused to communities here in the UK or elsewhere.”
The Met said the seven initially arrested have been detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 but there is not believed to be any imminent threat to the public linked to the investigation. Ms Flanagan said the investigation and arrests were about “protecting our Turkish and Kurdish communities”.
“I would urge anyone who thinks they may have been affected or targeted by those linked to the PKK to get in touch,” she said.
The Haringey Centre will be closed for two weeks while the investigation continues. Ms Flanagan said she was aware losing the community centre may cause “inconvenience to some people” and “officers will be working as quickly as they can”.
She added that “these are very serious allegations so it is important that we take care in identifying and gathering as much evidence as we can”.
“We understand these arrests have caused some concern amongst certain local communities – particularly those in the Kurdish community,” she said. “I would also ask that people avoid speculating or sharing unverified details online about this activity.”
Reacting to the arrests, Ishak Milani, of the Kurdish People's Assembly in the UK, said: “We, the Kurdish community in London, strongly condemn the recent unjust and heavy-handed raid conducted by British police on our community spaces.
“This aggressive act is not only an attack on our people but also an affront to the principles of democracy, justice and human rights that the UK claims to uphold. We demand accountability for this raid and a clear explanation for the actions taken.”
The PKK claimed responsibility for an attack on a defence company in Ankara in October in which seven people, including two assailants, were killed and 22 others were injured. Turkish air strikes launched in retaliation killed at least 27 civilians in northern and eastern Syria.
In 2021 three men convicted of breaking terrorism laws by showing their support for the PKK by waving flags at a rally in London lost their appeals at the UK’s Supreme Court.
