(19 Feb 1999) Natural Sound
Demonstrations have continued across Europe following the arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.
In Bucharest, more than a hundred Kurdish protesters clashed with riot police after they were prevented from marching on the Greek embassy, while other demonstrations in Paris and Madrid were more peaceful.
A statement was issued in Madrid by the Presidential Council of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) calling for an international tribunal that would ensure a fair trial for Ocalan in Turkey.
Meanwhile in Moscow, Russia's position on the Ocalan affair became clearer when a former K-G-B head said the rebel Kurdish leader had never applied for political asylum there.
Kurdish protesters fought Romanian riot police outside the Kurdish centre in Bucharest on Friday.
Romanian authorities had earlier banned the march, and more than a hundred Kurds were prevented from marching on the Greek embassy by the security forces.
In the scuffles which followed, riot police charged the stone-throwing protesters, beating them back with batons.
Tear gas was also fired into the crowd.
The Kurds were forced to retreat, but they later promised a second attempt at marching on the embassy.
There were injuries on both sides and a number of protesters were arrested, including one Kurdish woman.
In Paris, around 30 Kurds forcibly entered the UNESCO building and occupied a number of offices.
About a hundred people are staging a demonstration outside the building which has so far been peaceful, with no reports of injuries or arrests.
It's just one of many protests since the arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, who was seized by Turkish special agents in Kenya on Tuesday.
He is likely to be charged with terrorist offences against the Turkish state and masterminding the long-running war against Turkey in a bid to secure autonomy for the Kurdish people.
But there are fears among his supporters that he will not receive a fair trial in Ankara.
It's this apprehension that prompted the Kurd National Liberation group to hold a news conference in Madrid calling for international intervention to see that justice is done.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"From now on, our fight, our lives and our actions have only one objective. We ask for an international tribunal, and international guarantees for our leader, which means that the Turkish case against our leader will never be accepted as the Turkish courts have also been rejected by the European Court for Human Rights for many years now."
SUPERCAPTION: Mendo Balei, Kurd National Liberation spokesman
Balei also condoned violence against oppressors of the Kurdish people.
Meanwhile, Russia's role in the Ocalan affair became clearer on Friday as the Russian parliament met for a closed session to hear a report from the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the former K-G-B.
Vladimir Putin was summoned to the Russian lower house of parliament, or Duma, to address deputies on security issues involving Russia, including Kosovo and the Ocalan affair.
In a rare interview, Putin commented on the Ocalan case.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"The Russian government did not officially invite Ocalan to Russia. No state body deported Ocalan. We did not refuse him political asylum because Ocalan did not turn to either the president or the government requesting asylum."
SUPER CAPTION: Vladimir Putin, Head of the Russian Federal Security Service (former KGB)
Putin said Ocalan did not ask for political asylum in Russia.
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