Armed police raid Kurdish tent at Occupy LSX

We reproduce below a statement from Fitwatch on last night's armed raid on the Kurdish tent at Occupy LSX by the Metropolitan police. The Glasgow Defence Campaign issues its full solidarity to the Kurdish community and its proud tradition of working-class and anti-imperialist struggle, consistently criminalised by the British state as a result. We call on the Occupations to stand fully with those attacked, and to prepare for the inevitable attempts to evict and divide the ongoing fight against global inequality.

FITWATCH: ARMED POLICE RAID KURDISH TENT AT OCCUPY LSX

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Last night, the Kurdish tent at the OccupyLSX camp was raided by armed police following an alleged tip off of a gun being present. They searched the tent for over half an hour unsurprisingly finding nothing.

The Kurdish community has long been criminalised, and labelled as terrorists for their attempts to oppose and draw attention to the repression they face in Turkey, and this is another attempt to frighten and intimidate the Kurdish community coming just a month after the Halkevi Turkish and Kurdish Community Centre in Hackney was raided. However, given the Kurdish community is used to standing up to thugs with guns they are not easily intimidated.

However, the fact armed police were sent to raid the tent of Kurds supporting OccupyLSX is extremely worrying, and must be opposed. To the more cynically minded this could be seen as an attempt to split support for and amongst protesters, and we hope the Kurdish protesters are receiving full support and solidarity from those at OccupyLSX.