Germany: Several injured in brawls between Kurds and Turks
October 17, 2019
Nine people, including five police officers, were injured Wednesday evening in the latest escalation in Germany between Kurdish demonstrators and Turks over Turkey's military incursion in northeast Syria.
Police said a 50-year-old Turkish man was stabbed in the western city of Lüdenscheid and taken to hospital after a brawl broke out between Kurdish demonstrators and Turkish counter-protesters.
Read more: Heightened tensions between Turks and Kurds on German amateur football pitches
In the western city of Bottrop, eight people were slightly injured when Kurdish and Turkish demonstrators came to blows.
According to police, 50 Kurds were attending a registered protest when a group of Turks disrupted the gathering.
"There was a provocation and stones were thrown," police said.
Police intervened between the two sides, leaving five officers injured. Five people were arrested.
Kurds have been organizing daily protests in dozens of cities around Germany calling for a halt to Turkey's military offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces.
Read more: Germany caught between Turks and Kurds in Syria
On Monday, five people including a police officer were injured in the western city of Herne, when Kurdish protesters trashed a kiosk after being provoked. They later vandalized a Turkish-owned cafe.
Germany has more than 3 million people of Turkish origin, around 1 million of whom are estimated to be ethnic Kurds.
cw/sms (AFP, dpa)
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