Embassies under siege as Kurds orchestrate Europe-wide protest

ENRAGED KURDISH protesters were occupying a dozen Greek and Kenyan missions in London and elsewhere across Europe last night, after Turkey captured and brought home from Nairobi the fugitive Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Last night more than 80 Kurds had stormed and taken control of the Greek embassy in London's Holland Park, as hundreds maintained a tense stand- off with the police outside. A 15-year-old girl set fire to her hair and was taken to hospital with burns.

Necla Kanpeper, 15, was saved by police who managed to use their jackets to put out the flames. Kurds inside the embassy told The Independent by telephone that if the police tried to force the situation, they would commit suicide. "All of us are ready to die," one said.

In Ankara, Bulent Ecevit, the Prime Minister, told his countrymen that Mr Ocalan, wanted as a traitor and a terrorist for his part in a 14-year civil war which has taken 29,000 lives, had been brought back from Kenya and was behind bars. "We promised the state would capture him wherever he went, and we have kept our promise," he said.

But even before Mr Ecevit made his announcement, Kurdish exiles had started a precisely orchestrated pre-dawn occupation of embassies and consulates, after Greece had announced that Mr Ocalan, who could face the death penalty in Turkey, was in Kenyan hands. The order seems to have been issued by the high command of Mr Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PPK).

Some 25 European countries were caught up in the protest. Several had refused to allow his plane to land on 1 February as the Kurdish leader, expelled from Italy, sought sanctuary. By evening, missions in France, Russia and elsewhere had been evacuated, either voluntarily or by force. But in Britain, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland, tension was rising.

In the Hague about 150 Kurds stormed the Greek embassy residence, taking hostage the ambassador's wife, his eight-year-old son and a Filipino servant. In Zurich, Demonstrators stormed into the Greek consulate, taking hostage two people.

Yesterday's events will have an impact on the allied war of attrition against President Saddam Hussein, on ever fraught relations between Greece and Turkey, on Ankara's ties with the European Union, and on the struggle of 20 million Kurds spread among Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria to forge an independent country.

Mystery surrounds the circumstances of Mr Ocalan's recapture. According to the Greek Foreign Minister, Theodoros Pangalos, the Kurdish leader had flown to Kenya on a private plane on 2 February after a refuelling stop on the Greek island of Corfu. There he stayed incognito at a Greek embassy building until Monday when he left of his own accord and went with the Kenyan authorities to the airport expecting to fly to the Netherlands. Instead he found himself on a plane for Turkey, where he arrived at 3am yesterday.

But the Kenyans said they had nothing to do with the incident, while one of Mr Ocalan's lawyers said he was dragged out. In Washington, a spokes- man for the Clinton administration, which is desperate to retain Turkey's backing for its pressure on Saddam Hussein, said the US had no "direct involvement".

Diplomats in Athens painted a picture of a Greek operation to take charge of Mr Ocalan's future, which had gone badly wrong, with Athens being fooled into handing the PKK leader into the arms of his captors. That line held for a few hours until the Turks announced they had Mr Ocalan.Mr Pangalos was forced to admit the PKK leader was being escorted to the airport in Nairobi by Greek officials when his car "disappeared" down a side street. Mr Pangalos warned that if the violence did not cease, "serious measures" would be taken against the PKK.

The president of the Kurdish parliament in exile, Yasser Kaya issued an appeal for the action to stop, but to no effect.

Wave of attacks, Page 3

The Main Flashpoints

The Hague: 150 Kurds storm Greek ambassador's residence, taking family hostage

Zurich: Demonstrators force way into Greek consulate, taking two hostages

Paris: Police eject protesters (above) from Kenyan embassy and Greek consulate

Strasbourg: Police fire teargas at 30 protesters inside Greek consulate

Marseille: Dozens of protesters forced out of Greek consulate

Bonn: Hostages held in Kenyan and Greek embassies

Leipzig: Three held in Greek consulate

Stuttgart: 27 arrested after storming Greek embassy. Woman sets herself on fire

Frankfurt: 50 protesters occupy consulate

Hamburg: Protesters gather in front of Greek and British consulates

Cologne: More than 30 arrested trying to occupy the Greek consulate

Dusseldorf: Demonstrators attack Greek consulate

Hanover: About 15 protesters occupy the Greek consulate and throw missiles at police

Moscow: Demonstrators occupying Greek embassy give themselves up to police

London: A woman sets herself alight as about 80 Kurdish demonstrators occupying the Greek embassy

Brussels: About 50 protesters occupy Greek embassy and douse themselves with petrol

Vienna: Greek and Kenyan embassies stormed

Geneva: More than 20 demonstrators enter a UN building

Berne: Demonstrators force way into Greek embassy.

Copenhagen: Woman sets herself on fire at the Greek embassy. 48 protesters held

Stockholm: 50 pro-Kurdish demonstrators arrested after scuffles at Greek embassy.

Milan: 20 Kurds force their way into Greek consulate.

Yerevan: Kurdish protesters occupy UN office in Armenian capital