Killing of Halim Dener explained

Halim Dener
Death Place:Hanover, Germany
Death Cause:Shot dead by a police officer

Halim Dener was a 16-year-old Kurdish boy shot dead by a German police officer in Hanover, on 29 June 1994.[1] The Halim Dener Campaign commemorates the anniversary of his death.

Shooting

Halim Dener was a 16-year-old Kurdish boy who had been tortured by the Turkish military. He fled Turkey before his village was destroyed and he was living in Hanover as an asylum seeker in 1994. On 30 June, he went out at night to put up posters for the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK), an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).[2] [3] The PKK had recently been banned in Germany as a terrorist group.[4] Dener was in the central Steintor pedestrian zone when he encountered several police officers. According to the account of the police, what happened next was that he tried to run away and they restrained him. There was a scuffle and when a police officer tried to pick up his gun it fired, killing the boy.

Later events

On the 20th anniversary of Dener's death in 2014, a proposal was made to rename a square after Dener, as a memorial. In the Linden-Limmer district, council members voted to do so, but the plan was then vetoed by the city council. The cancellation of the plan was controversial; one campaigner said "I don't think anyone would arrive at the idea that they wouldn't name a square after victims of fascism because that would upset neo-Nazis". The Halim Dener Campaign continued to press for a memorial to Dener in the city, but Mayor Stefan Schostok resisted, saying he did not want to inflame tensions between Turks and Kurds.

A mural painted to commemorate Dener in 1994 on a social centre in Bielefeld became subject to a three-year legal battle and was eventually declared in 2020 to be a work of art (and therefore not illegal).[5] [6] In 2021, 300 people marched in memory of Dener and to protest recent police raids on a Kurdish social centre.[7]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/isku/hintergrund/verbot/2003/ausstellung/gefallene/03.htm
  2. News: Hanover decides against sign for teen shot by police . 13 January 2022 . Deutsche Welle . 19 May 2017 . 12 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201112023844/https://www.dw.com/en/hanover-decides-against-sign-for-teen-shot-by-police/a-38912176 . live .
  3. News: Schmollack . Simone . Tod in Hannover: Eine Tafel, ein Platz, ein Stein [Death in Hanover: A plaque, a square, a stone] ]. 13 January 2022 . Die Tageszeitung . 29 June 2019 . de . 29 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201029031640/https://taz.de/Tod-in-Hannover/!5603420/ . live .
  4. News: Allen . Arthur . Kurdish Protests Fail to Hit Their Mark in Germany . 13 January 2022 . AP News . 25 March 1994.
  5. News: Reichenbach . Jens . Gericht kippt Verbot für umstrittenes Bielefelder Graffiti [Court overturns ban on controversial Bielefeld graffiti] ]. 13 January 2022 . Neue Westfälische . 19 June 2020 . de.
  6. News: AJZ Bielefeld hat gewonnen: Halim Dener bleibt! [AJZ Bielefeld won: Halim Dener stays!] ]. 13 January 2022 . ANF News . 25 November 2020 . de . 24 January 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210124132416/https://anfdeutsch.com/aktuelles/ajz-bielefeld-hat-gewonnen-halim-dener-bleibt-22977 . live .
  7. News: Todestag von Halim Dener: 300 Menschen protestieren gegen Polizeigewalt [Anniversary of Halim Dener's death: 300 people protest against police violence] ]. 13 January 2022 . Hannoversche Allgemeine . 4 July 2021 . de . 3 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210703142258/https://www.haz.de/Hannover/Aus-der-Stadt/Halim-Dener-Demo-in-Hannover-300-Menschen-protestieren-gegen-Polizeigewalt . live .

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