"The Syrian authorities yesterday (Sunday) freed 75 Kurds detained on March 20 in Aleppo during celebrations to mark the Kurdish New Year," the group's president Ammar al-Qorabi told AFP.

He said the releases meant that all those arrested during the celebrations had now been freed, while calling on Syrian authorities to "free all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience".

Some 3,000 Kurds bearing Kurdish flags gathered on March 20 in an Aleppo neighbourhood to celebrate Noruz, the Kurdish New Year.

The security forces used tear-gas to break up the demonstration, during which stones were thrown at police. More than 100 people were arrested, although some were held only briefly.

The secretary general of the Kurdish Democratic Progressive party, Aziz Daoud, called the latest releases "positive", and said they were "in response to an open letter sent by Kurdish lawyers to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad."

Daoud told AFP he hoped the releases "will be followed by the release of other Kurds being held, in particular the 45 arrested during a Kurdish demonstration at Qameshli (northeast of Damascus) on June 5, 2005".

The protestors had been calling for an investigation into the murder of popular Kurdish cleric Maashuq Khaznawi, an outspoken advocate of Kurdish rights.

In March 2004, five days of deadly clashes pitted Kurds against the security forces and Arab tribesmen in Aleppo and Qameshli. The authorities said 25 people were killed, but Kurdish sources put the death toll as high as 40.