Paris: After three people were killed in an attack on a Kurdish cultural center that authorities believe was racially motivated, members of the Kurdish community in France and anti-racism activists expressed their grief and outrage in Paris on Saturday come together to express
In addition to injuring three people, the shooting in a busy area of central Paris raised questions about hate crimes against minorities at a time when far-right voices have become more prominent in France and across Europe in recent years Huh.
The alleged assailant suffered injuries, was taken into custody and then transferred to psychiatric care on Saturday, according to the Paris prosecutor's office.
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Paris, 69, was released from prison earlier this month after he was arrested last year for attacking a migrant camp. He could be charged with murder and attempted murder for Friday's shooting, according to the prosecutor's office.
Thousands gathered in the Place de la République in eastern Paris on Saturday, waving a vibrant array of flags supporting various causes, including Kurdish rights organizations and left-wing political movements.
Although some youths threw projectiles and set some cars and garbage cans on fire, the gathering was largely peaceful. Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Some protesters insulted the Turkish government.
According to Berivan Farat of the Kurdish Democratic Council in France, speaking to BFM TV, the violence began after some people drove past a car waving Turkish flags.
Most of the protesters were ethnic Kurds of different generations, who had gathered to pay tribute to three other Kurds, including a well-known feminist activist and a Kurdish singer, who had fled to France.
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"We are really devastated. We have lost a very important member of our community, and we are devastated and angry about it. How is this possible?" said protester Yekabun Ogur, who was at a middle school in Paris Biology teacher. Is it normal? for a gunman to enter a place of worship and kill people there?
Demonstrator Yunus Cisek wiped away tears as he spoke about the victims and their fears. “This place is not protecting us. I do not feel safe despite having political refugee status. Maybe next time it will be me.
The shooting shocked the Kurdish community and raised police alert in France during the Christmas holiday. In an effort to address their concerns, the Paris police chief met with members of the Kurdish community on Saturday.
After an 11% increase from 2018 to 2019, the French Ministry of the Interior projects a 13% increase in crimes or other violations related to race in 2021 compared to 2019.
The year 2020 was excluded from the ministry's data due to the pandemic lockdown. It claimed that a disproportionate number of these crimes target people of African descent and listed many attacks carried out for reasons related to religion.
The cultural center, a nearby Kurdish restaurant and a Kurdish hair salon were the targets of Friday's attack. According to surveillance footage from the hair salon posted online, customers managed to fend off the assailant before police arrived. The prosecutor's office declined to provide more details about the specifics of his arrest.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin claimed that the suspect had acted alone and had no official affiliation with any extreme-right or other radical movements, but had clearly targeted foreigners. The suspect was previously convicted of both illegal firearm possession and armed assault.
Kurdish activists claimed that the police had recently alerted them to threats against Kurdish targets.
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In 2013 three female Kurdish activists were shot dead in a Kurdish center in Paris, including Sakin Cansiz, the founder of the PKK and one of the three.
The Turkish military has long fought against PKK-affiliated Kurdish militants in southeast Turkey as well as in northern Iraq. Recently, the Turkish military launched several air and artillery strikes against militant Syrian Kurdish positions in northern Syria.