Thousands of Kurds rally for release of PKK leader Öcalan

Thousands of Kurds have demonstrated in the western German city of Cologne for the release of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader and founder Abdullah Öcalan, who is imprisoned in Turkey.

According to police, 15,000 participants were registered for a march through the city centre. The police did not provide exact details on the actual number of participants, but a spokesman said several thousand took part.

During the demonstration, flares and firecrackers were occasionally ignited and thrown, a dpa reporter witnessed. The police then initiated proceedings against several people. Otherwise, no significant incidents were recorded, and everything proceeded calmly, the police spokesman said. There were no arrests.

The demonstration began slightly later than planned, with the march only starting at midday. At the end, the participants gathered for a rally at the docks in the city's Deutz district.

The banned PKK announced this year that it would withdraw its fighters from Turkey. This step was part of a peace process with the Turkish government. The PKK had already symbolically laid down its arms in July.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, the European Union, and the United States. In May, the PKK announced its dissolution, following a call from Öcalan.

The PKK was founded in 1978 by Öcalan in Turkey, mainly as a reaction to the political, social and cultural oppression of Kurds in the country.

Since the 1980s, it has fought an armed struggle for a Kurdish state or an autonomous region in the south-east of Turkey. Tens of thousands of people have lost their lives in the conflict.

Öcalan, in his mid-70s, has been imprisoned on the island of Imrali in the Sea of Maramara off Istanbul since 1999.