20,000 Kurds protest against ISIL in Germany

BERLIN - The Associated Press

An aerial view shows pro-kurdish demonstrators holding a giant flag as they gather on Oct. 11 in Düsseldorf during a rally in solidarity with Kurds trapped in the northern Syrian city of Kobane where they are besieged by ISIL fighters. AFP Photo / DPA / Rolan Weihrauch

More than 20,000 Kurdish immigrants have protested in Germany against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to condemn the jihadists onslaught against the Kurdish town of Kobane in northern Syria.

Police said the demonstration Oct. 11 in the western German city of Düsseldorf was peaceful with people marching through the city's downtown area and waving large Kurdish flags.

Meanwhile, two people were seriously hurt after radical Muslims attacked a Kurdish demonstration in the west Austrian city of Bregenz, according to a police spokesman.

The attack came a few days after clashes between Kurds and radical Muslim groups in the northern German cities of Hamburg and Celle left more than 20 people injured earlier this week.

Concern has grown in Berlin about a spillover of the tensions in Syria and Iraq to Germany, which is home to an estimated one million ethnic Kurds.

"We're watching this very closely," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in an interview to appear Oct. 12 in German daily Focus.

Those who take part in fighting "should expect a very tough reaction," he warned.

In Paris, between five and six thousand people protested Oct. 11 to call for international support for Kurds trapped in Kobane.

Around 600 people also protested in the eastern French city of Mulhouse, several hundred in the east-central city of Lyon, as well as several hundred in the southwestern city of Bordeaux.