Turkish nationalists, PKK supporters clash in Germany’s Cologne

COLOGNE – Doğan News Agency

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Supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and a number of smaller groups clashed with Turkish nationalists on the streets of Germany’s Cologne on April 10, prompting a police intervention and further clashes with the security forces. 

Some 24 people were detained while one man was seriously injured. 

The clashes occurred as members of the “Germany New Turk Committee,” who were staging anti-terror demonstrations, came face to face with pro-PKK and leftist groups who were also staging demonstrations on the same day.

German police intervened with tear gas and batons, as bottles and explosives were thrown during the clashes on Cologne’s Turiner Street.

One pro-PKK group also reportedly attacked the police with plastic and glass bottles, leaving a number of police officers injured. According to Cologne police, 20 people belonging to the group were detained over the incidents on Turiner Street and four others were detained over incidents that took place in front of the city’s Cologne Cathedral. 

Meanwhile, according to local daily Köln Express, one man was heavily wounded in Keup Street, sometimes referred to as “Little Istanbul,” after a group of around 60 people attacked his car, which bore a Turkish nationalist “grey wolf” emblem. The owner of the car was hospitalized as he was stabbed and hit with sticks. 

The grey wolf is a symbol of Turkish ultra-nationalists, affiliated with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in parliament.