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Demonstration escalated - barricades burned - 31 officers injured, eleven arrested - a situation only calmed down in the evening.
- Hundreds of Kurds demonstrate in Paris on Saturday after the murder of three compatriots on Friday
PARIS, France — Hundreds of Kurds protested on Republic Square Saturday after the deadly attack. The participants demanded that the crime be clarified and held up photos of the victims.
Flags of the Kurdish underground organization PKK, classified as terrorist and banned in Germany, were also waved.
Stewards of the demonstration (recognizable by their safety vests) try to contain the riots with a human chain - in vain.
The demonstration was initially largely peaceful until riots broke out late in the afternoon. On the fringes of the rally, participants began attacking the police with projectiles. Furniture was also said to have been thrown. According to the French news channel BFMTV, folders at the rally tried vainly to get the troublemakers to see reason. The officers responded with tear gas. Images from the capital show that the riots were becoming more violent. Street barricades were erected and set on fire. At least four cars were knocked over, at least one of which was set on fire. Garbage cans also burned. Apparently, the mood changed incredibly quickly, as a video on Twitter shows. In it, you can see and hear firecrackers being shot off.
Due to the riots, the organizer ended the demonstration early. Shortly after 3 p.m., the security forces cleared Republic Square of the participants and put them under surveillance. Some people then went to the crime scene to commemorate the victims.
But the riots continued.
According to the organizer of the demo, the Conseil Association for Kurdish Democracy in France (CDK-F), the trigger was a provocation by Turkish nationalists: “There were provocateurs who drove by in a vehicle with the Turkish flag and the sign of the gray wolves did, so it automatically provoked the young people,” CDK-F spokesman Berivan Firat told BFMTV.
The situation also calmed down in the side streets in the early evening. According to the police, 31 officers were injured, and eleven rioters were arrested.
There had already been clashes between demonstrators and security forces on Friday evening. Protesters threw objects, set garbage cans on fire, erected barricades, and the police used tear gas. The windows of several private cars and police vehicles were also broken.
On Friday, there was a xenophobic attack in a Paris district. A 69-year-old Frenchman opened fire on the Kurdish population living there. Two men and one woman were killed, and three others were injured, some seriously.
The police arrested the perpetrator shortly after the attack; the man was already in prison for attacking foreigners with a saber until recently. In the meantime, the perpetrator has been admitted to the psychiatric ward. A doctor found that the man's health was incompatible with staying in police custody. As the Paris public prosecutor announced on Saturday evening, the suspect should be brought before an investigating judge as soon as his condition allows.