Attack in Paris: Kurdish community complains about Turkish threats and calls for protests

Enlarge image

After the attack on Rue d'Enghien in Paris: tensions between police and demonstrators

Photo:

Lewis Joly/AP

After the deadly attack on a Kurdish center in Paris, the Kurdish community is demanding clarification.

She called on Kurds to attend a protest meeting at the site of the attack on Saturday afternoon.

In addition, a night watch for the victims should have been held in the Kurdish center itself.

The Paris police prefect wants to meet representatives of the Kurdish community in the morning.

Even if it is not yet clear whether the attack was explicitly aimed at the Kurdish community, France now wants to protect Kurdish meeting places.

Throughout the country, guards should be posted at places where the Kurdish community gathers, said France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.

He also wanted to check whether there were other threats against Kurds in France and announced that he would also protect Turkish diplomatic missions in the country to prevent counterattacks.

Almost ten years ago there had been an assassination attempt on three Kurdish activists in the tenth arrondissement of Paris.

Their bodies were then discovered in the Kurdistan Information Center.

As late as Friday afternoon, there were numerous Kurds near the site of the attack.

Shortly after Interior Minister Darmanin's visit to the site, there were clashes with the security forces.

Media reported that demonstrators had thrown at the police.

They used tear gas.

The France Info station wrote of an arrest and five injured police officers.

The motive of the alleged perpetrator is still unclear

On Friday, an attacker fatally wounded three people in and in front of a Kurdish cultural center as well as a restaurant and a hairdressing salon in the tenth arrondissement of Paris.

Three others wounded, one critically.

The alleged perpetrator was arrested, he was also injured.

The public prosecutor is investigating the 69-year-old Frenchman for intentional killing and serious violence.

"He obviously wanted to attack foreigners," Darmanin said.

However, it is unclear whether the attack was explicitly aimed at Kurds.

The motive is unknown, the suspect was not registered as a right-wing extremist by the security authorities, but a right-wing background to the crime is being examined.

The man acted alone and had a number of weapons as a marksman.

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter: "The Kurds in France were the target of a vile attack in the middle of Paris." His thoughts are with the victims and their families.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the suspect had only recently been released from custody under judicial supervision.

Last year he attacked a migrant camp and injured several people.

According to media reports, he attacked with a saber.

In 2016 he is said to have attacked a person with a knife.

The broadcaster France Info reported, citing police circles, that the man was known for two attempted killings.

The Democratic Kurdish Council in France (CDK-F), the umbrella organization of 24 Kurdish associations, classified the attack as a "terrorist attack" that came after numerous Turkish threats.

The dead and injured are Kurdish activists.

Turkey has long fought Kurdish independence aspirations promoted by the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK and other Kurdish organizations.

The shooting on Rue d'Enghien had sparked panic in the street lined with small shops and cafes in the busy 10th arrondissement.

"It was Kurds who were targeted," Juan-Golan Eliberg, an artist who works at the Kurdish Cultural Center, told Reuters.

It's a "terrible drama," District Mayor Alexandra Cordebard said.

»#Hate must never win«

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wrote on Twitter: “The Kurdish community, and through it all Parisians, have been targeted by these killings, committed by a far-right activist.” She demanded, “The Kurds, wherever they live, must live in peace and security.

More than ever, Paris stands by her side in these dark hours.«

French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne rated the attack on Twitter on Friday as a "disgusting act".

She expressed her support for the victims and their families.

For victims and witnesses of the bloody attack, the city set up a psychological service at the tenth arrondissement town hall.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also expressed his sympathy.

"A terrible act that shook Paris and France today," tweeted the SPD politician on Friday evening in German and French.

"My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives." Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) expressed her sympathy on Twitter under the hashtag #Paris:

abl/dpa