Clashes with police in Paris intensifies
2022.12.24 11:58
Clashes with police in Paris intensifies
Budrigannews.com – After three members of the Kurdish community were killed on Friday, police and members of the Kurdish community clashed for a second day in Paris.
Near Republic Square, the usual location for demonstrations in the city and where Kurds had previously held a peaceful protest, vehicles were flipped over, at least one vehicle was burned, and small fires were started.
As some demonstrators left the square, clashes broke out, with demonstrators hurling projectiles at the police, who responded with tear gas. Approximately two hours passed before the protesters dispersed.
On Friday, a gunman opened fire on a Kurdish cultural center and a nearby cafe in a busy part of the 10th district of Paris, shocking a community that was getting ready to mark the 10th anniversary of the unsolved murders of three activists.
The 69-year-old man arrested by police was said to have recently been released from detention while awaiting trial for a sabre attack on a Parisian migrant camp last year.
The prosecutor’s office said on Saturday that after questioning the suspect, they had added a possible racist motive to the initial allegations of murder and weapon violence.
The Kurdish democratic council in France (CDK-F) organized a gathering on Saturday at Republic Square following a violent crowd-police clash on Friday afternoon.
Politicians, including the mayor of Paris’s 10th district, joined hundreds of Kurdish protesters as they waved flags and paid tribute to the victims.
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“We are in no way being protected. Berivan Firat, a CDK-F spokesperson, told BFM TV at the demonstration, “Six Kurdish activists have been killed in the heart of Paris in broad daylight in the past ten years.”
She said the occasion turned savage after certain dissenters were incited by individuals in a passing vehicle who showed a Turkish banner and made a nationalistic signal.
The murders on Friday occurred before the January 2013 anniversary of the murders of three Kurdish women in Paris.
After the primary suspect passed away shortly before the trial, the investigation was halted and reopened in 2019.
“The Kurdish people group is apprehensive. It had already been traumatized by the 2013 triple murder. It requires responses, support, and consideration,” the CDK-F’s attorney, David Andic, told reporters on Friday.
On Saturday, Kurdish representatives met with the police chief of Paris and reiterated their call for the shooting on Friday to be classified as a terrorist attack.
The prosecutor’s office added that the suspect was still being questioned.
