Four men of Kurdish origin were attacked this Saturday afternoon with an iron bar in an association room in downtown Lyon, during an action that the victims attribute to the Turkish ultranationalist group of Gray Wolves .
“Around 2:30 pm, there was an intrusion of at least ten people in a Kurdish room in the 7th arrondissement of Lyon.
There is a lot of damage and four minor injuries, ”said the police on Saturday.
According to a witness, quoted in Le Progrès, the attackers were about twenty.
When the police arrived, the attackers had left the scene.
"There was a brawl between two gangs which caused the transport of four injured in relative urgency to neighboring hospitals", for their part, said the firefighters.
"The victims, men aged between 30 and 45, were wounded with knives, bats and iron bars," said the same source.
Accusations by the Kurdish Democratic Council
In a statement, the Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDK-F) affirms that "the Gray Wolves dressed in balaclavas, [and equipped] with baseball bats and bladed weapons, attacked our association with the greatest violence. of Lyon and beaten its members.
Four Kurds in the association were wounded to the point of blood by Erdogan's dangerous thugs ”.
The police have assured that they have "no certainty as to the nationality" of the attackers for the moment, reports Le Progrès.
Images of the interior of the premises of the #kurdish association of #Lyon after the attack of the #LoupsGris.
All over the floor, the enraged henchmen of #Erdogan shed blood.
pic.twitter.com/mT8Hpp7FQU
- Kurdish Democratic Council in France (@Le_CDKF) April 3, 2021
The Gray Wolves, a Turkish ultranationalist group known to be close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were dissolved in November by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin after being singled out during incidents with the Armenian diaspora near Lyon.
The cultural association of Lyon, whose members were targeted, had already denounced two weeks ago threats and inscriptions attributed to the Gray Wolves on the door of its premises located on the ground floor.
The initials of the Turkish ultranationalist party MHP as well as the letters RTE (for Recep Tayyip Erdogan), had been tagged there.