At 4:30 a.m. the next morning, February 16, police surrounded Platia Koumoudourou, a square in downtown Athens were several hundred Kurds from Iraq have been squatting in the open air for months. "They broke into the tents and shacks without any warning, destroying the few belongings of people and herding folks into waiting buses," said Abu Ali. "In all, they managed to round up 350 of our people. They had 250 cops on hand! These are all people that have applied for political refugee status but despite international requirements are left with no aid from the state, no food, no shelter. They have to wait until February of the year 2000 for even their first interview on their status.

"They then drove us to a suburb of the city to supposedly house people in a hospital. When we got there we were met by a mob of almost 1,500 hospital employees and neighborhood residents blocking the way.

The police then took people to Megara, an old army base, Abu Ali said, 60 kilometers from the city. "They prevented journalists, doctors, and social workers from entering."

"That night I made it back to Athens to learn of Ocalan's abduction. And it became clear: the authorities did not want the Kurds together in central Athens. We organized a mass escape and two days later folks made it back to Athens. However, anyone found in the vicinity of Koumoudourou will be arrested."

Kurds from Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria "all consider Ocalan's abduction as a joint U.S., Israeli, Turkish, and Greek operation. It is an unacceptable crime to us," Abu Ali concluded. "Their aim was not Ocalan but the entire Kurdish nation."

- G.M.  
 
 
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