Kurdish protesters clashed with police in Turkey, leaving at least 14 people dead, and scores were injured on Tuesday as demonstrators in Brussels forced their way into the European Parliament, part of Europe-wide demonstrations against the Islamic State (IS) group’s advance on a town on the Syrian-Turkish border.
Some European countries are arming the Kurds in Syria and the US-led coalition against the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is carrying out airstrikes against the extremists, but protesters say it is not enough.
A demonstrator in Cyprus urged the coalition to “hit the jihadists harder” so Kurdish forces can hold the town.
Photo: EPA
Tensions are especially high in Turkey, where Kurds have fought a three-decade-long battle for autonomy and where Syria’s violence has taken an especially heavy toll.
Eight of the 14 deaths in Turkey were in the main Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, where the most intense rioting took place overnight on Tuesday to yesterday, a local security official told reporters. The clashes with police caused extensive damage in the city, with shop fronts burned and buses set on fire.
The other deaths were reported in violent protests in Mardin, Siirt, Batman and Mus, all cities in the southeast of the country.
In a measure unprecedented in recent years, the Turkish army has been deployed in the streets of the cities of Diyarbakir, Mardin and Van to impose a curfew, while reports said schools were closed in Diyarbakir and fights canceled.
Police also used tear gas and water cannon to disperse angry pro-Kurdish protests in Istanbul and Ankara.
Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has so far not intervened militarily against Islamic State jihadists fighting for the majority-Kurdish border town of Kobane, to the fury of Turkey’s Kurds.
Some Turkish protesters shouted “Murderer ISIS!” and accused Ankara of collaborating with the Islamic militants.
Hundreds of thousands of Kurds live elsewhere in Europe and mobilized quickly via social networks to stage the protests. Some European Kurds have gone to the Middle East recently to join Kurdish forces.
In Brussels, about 50 protesters smashed a glass door and pushed past police to get into the parliament building. Once inside, some protesters were received by European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who promised to discuss the Kurds’ plight with NATO and EU leaders.
In Germany, home to western Europe’s largest Kurdish population, about 600 people rallied in Berlin on Tuesday, according to police. Hundreds demonstrated in other German cities, while Austria, too, saw protests.
Kurds peacefully occupied the Netherlands’ parliament for several hours on Monday night and met the following day with legislators to press for more Dutch action against the insurgents, according to local media.
The Netherlands has sent six F-16 fighter jets to conduct airstrikes against Islamic State militants, but says it does not see a mandate for striking in Syria.
France, too, is firing airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Iraq, but not in Syria, wary of implications on international efforts against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“We don’t understand why France is acting in Kurdistan in Iraq and not Kurdistan in Syria,” said Fidan Unlubayir of the Federation of Kurdish Associations of France.
Kurds protested overnight at the French parliament and staged impromptu protests against the Islamic State in Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm.
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