Al-Qaeda banner turns protest violent in Istanbul

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

The Peace and Democracy Party’s (BDP) meeting in Istanbul’s Asian side district of Kadıköy in support of Syria’s Kurdish region Rojava turned violent on Nov. 24 because of the police’s move against a banner on a building.

Police and protesters became involved in reciprocal attacks when police officers removed a banner reading “[Turkish Prime Minister] Erdoğan withdraw your Al-Qaeda from Rojava” from a building on the way of rally.

Protesters, opposing the removal of the banner, tried to enter the building but met with police intervention, after which some protesters threw stones at the building and policemen, Doğan News Agency footage showed. The protesters hung the banner again after police left the building’s entrance.

The People’s Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs Ertuğrul Kürkçü and Sebahat Tuncel, BDP co-chair Gültan Kışanak attended the meeting.

Kurdish groups in Syria accused Ankara of handing weapons over to the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front as well as the jihadist Ahrar al-Sham groups in the northern parts of Syria, called Rojava by the Kurds. Ankara officially denied the claims on Sept. 18.