Yesterday, dozens of people were arrested at a Kurdish protest against the Turkish invasion of northern Syria. The protest got out of control when Turkish counter-protestors unexpectedly arrived at the Kurdish protests which had a nice protest-permit and everything.
At the protest yesterday in Rotterdam, dozens of Kurds and Dutch sympathizers protested against the recent Turkish invasion of northern Syria. Kurdish forces were controlling the area, with an American presence, since they bought Isis under control. Almost two weeks ago, Trump handed over control of the region to the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan. Following this, Turkish forces and their jihadi-proxies invaded the area, since then we’ve seen awful images coming from the area.
Kurds demanded economic sanctions against Turkey
At the protest, the Kurdish demonstrators waved banners and shouted slogans like “ErdoÄŸan, terrorist!” from 7pm onwards. They did this in the area assigned to them by the municipality. They were demanding a no-fly zone over Turkey, and economic sanctions, along with other measures from Europe following the Turkish invasion and attack on the Kurds in northern Syria.
Rotterdam nu pic.twitter.com/quBr325Scd
— FidanEkiz (@fidanekiz) October 16, 2019
Turkish counter-demonstrators arrived
The protest went according to plan until the arrival of Turkish counter-protestors. While the Kurdish demonstrators did have a permit to hold the protest, the Turkish demonstrators did not, and the police did not expect their arrival. Fights broke out pretty quickly and the Turkish protestors also acted out of control by lighting fireworks, and refusing to stay in the section assigned to counter demonstrators.
Dit is bijna elke keer zo. Al sinds de jaren 90 plegen Turken in Rotterdam georganiseerd en grof geweld als Koerdische Nederlanders vreedzaam demonstreren. https://t.co/61qGpi0Ql2
— Zihni Özdil (@ZihniOzdil) October 16, 2019
Police officers injured
Several fights broke out, and the police used force to shut down the protest. The police  made the decision to end the protest in consultation with the mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb. The police escorted demonstrators back to their vehicles, and by 9:30pm the streets were quiet again. A number of police officers were injured at the protest, with one coming away with a broken wrist.
In totaal hield de politie 23 verdachten aan. Zij worden verdacht van openlijk geweld, mishandeling, vernieling en belediging. Een aantal verdachten had de beschikking briefing over boksbeugels, ploertendoder en schroevendraaiers. Zij zitten nog vast. Drie agenten raakten gewond. pic.twitter.com/q4Lvoicd8f
— Politie Rotterdam eo (@Politie_Rdam) October 17, 2019
Further protests to be expected
Kurdish protests will also take place in other cities, including Arnhem, Amsterdam and The Hague this week. The Kurds believe that the Netherlands and the European Union are being held hostage by Turkey, which threatens to let all the refugees from Syria that currently live in Turkey through to Europe, if countermeasures against their invasion of northern Syria are taken by the EU.
Will one of these protests be taking place in your city? Let us know in the comments below.Â
Feature image: Source – twitter/politie_rdam