Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday at the Place de la Republique in the French capital, Paris, to protest Friday’s shooting by a gunman at a Kurdish cultural center, which resulted in the death of three people.
The rally, organized by the Kurdish Democratic Council (CDK) — which brings together twenty-four associations of the Kurdish diaspora throughout France — seeks to express its revulsion at the attack against those defined as «Kurdish militants», although there is still no official information on the identity of the deceased.
During the demonstration there were numerous red flags of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), other purple ones in memory of three Kurdish women killed in 2013 also in Paris, and other yellow flags with the face of the leader of Kurdistan, Abdullah Ocalan, according to BFM TV channel.
Also, the headquarters of the City Hall of the 10th arrondissement of Paris, the area of the capital where the shooting occurred, has removed the French flag from its facade and in its place has raised the Kurdish flag «in tribute to the victims».
In fact, the mayor of the 10th arrondissement, Alexandra Cordebard, has assured on her Twitter profile that the corporation is «together with the Kurds of France», and pay tribute this Saturday to the victims of the «racist attack perpetrated in the Enghien street».
INCIDENTS NEAR THE PLACE OF THE REPUBLIC Although the rally has developed peacefully, after 13.00 there have been clashes in the vicinity of the Place de la République between protesters and police officers.
According to BFM TV, some demonstrators attacked security agents with small projectiles and even threw street furniture. The police, for their part, responded with the use of tear gas.
However, the tension of some participants with the police was not shared by the demonstrators as a whole, who even went so far as to interpose themselves between them, forming a human chain also composed of members of the Kurdish Democratic Council.
Following this episode of violence, the organizers of the demonstration decided to end the rally earlier than planned. The march was due to proceed towards the Bastille, where clashes broke out.
The Kurdish Democratic Council denounced that tempers were inflamed when a group of «provocateurs» passed by the demonstration in a car, showing the Turkish flag through the windows and making the gesture of the Grey Wolves.
Grey Wolves is a Turkish ultra-nationalist racist organization and extremely hostile to the Kurdish community. The Gallic authorities ordered in 2020 its dissolution by considering it an extreme right-wing organization. Its supporters make a hand gesture by raising the index and little fingers and putting the rest of the fingers together.
Afterwards, a large part of the attendees returned to Enghien Street to continue, again in a calm atmosphere, with the tributes to the deceased, as planned before the small riots.
After 3:00 p.m., the Place de la République had returned to normal and there were hardly any demonstrators, although the large police presence was still in place.
A man in his 70s opened fire on Friday at a Kurdish cultural center in Paris, killing three people and wounding three others. The Gallic authorities soon came out to show their total rejection of what the president himself, Emmanuel Macron, defined as a «hateful» attack against the Kurds in France.
Already on Friday night there were some clashes between civilians protesting the event and police officers. The French authorities have put the number of injured officers at twelve on Saturday.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
