GERMAN authorities have launched a further crackdown on progressive groups after it banned the congress of a leading Kurdish umbrella organisation on security grounds.

The Fourth Congress of the Democratic Society of Kurdistan in Europe (KCDK-E) was due to take place today but organisers were told by Cologne police in a phone call on Friday that it could not go ahead.

The reason given for the ban was that “200 high-ranking PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] officials” were said to be attending the conference.