THOUSANDS of Kurds were joined by their supporters in Finsbury Park in north London yesterday for Newroz celebrations just a day after the end of the jihadist caliphate was announced in northern Syria.

The Kurdish new year festival was dedicated to the thousands of hunger strikers in Turkish prisons who are protesting the continued isolation of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Tributes were paid to Ayten Becet who hung herself in prison on Saturday. Zulkuf Gezen, Ugur Sakar and MLKP commander Bayram Namaz were also remembered as those gathered stood for a minute’s silence for those who have fallen.

Labour MP for Hornsey and Wood Green Catherine West addressed the crowds bringing solidarity from the party. She said she was going to Turkey as part of a delegation for the forthcoming elections.

She will be joined by Morning Star international editor Steve Sweeney, who told the rally he would be reporting from the elections to “expose the crimes against freedom and democracy that Turkey is trying to hide from the world.”

Former HDP MP Osman Baydemir — who was expelled from the Turkish parliament after saying “Kurdistan is in my heart” — was cheered as he took to the stage addressing the crowds in Kurmanci Kurdish.