Tensions over the Turkish elections continue as far as the Netherlands. Dutch police said on Monday they had dispersed a "huge" fight involving some "300 people" at a polling station in Amsterdam, in which at least two people were injured.
The fight broke out on Sunday evening at the RAI conference centre in Amsterdam, where Turkish-Dutch voters could vote early ahead of Turkey's May 14 presidential election, according to Dutch police and media.
Turkish voters attacked by #PKK sympathizers in #Netherlands; The group assaulted ballot box observers of the People's Alliance as polls were closing at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre.#Turkey #Election pic.twitter.com/U9Calhe5I4
— SNN (@snntv_en) May 8, 2023
"The organization responsible for security for the elections told the police that the situation was getting out of control" at around 21 p.m., Amsterdam police said. Upon arrival, police "found a chaotic situation inside the RAI with a huge fight involving some 300 people," police said in a statement, adding that "at least two people were injured."
"There was screaming, panic and chaos"
Dutch media on Monday broadcast footage showing scores of police officers, some in riot gear or accompanied by dogs, separating the different parties.
The fight, which broke out shortly before the office closed, was triggered by an altercation between representatives of opposing parties, according to Dutch public broadcaster NOS. "There was screaming, panic and chaos," a witness was quoted by NOS as saying. Calm returned hours later, according to police and local media. The parties to the conflict have not been designated by the authorities.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 69, faces the most uncertain election since coming to power, facing for the first time in two decades a united opposition in a country in crisis. In the Netherlands, the Turkish-Dutch community in the Netherlands numbers about 400,000 people, mostly descendants of workers who emigrated to Europe in the 1960s and 1970s.
