Masked men wreck Kurdish café in Ghent
A group of 10 masked men carried out an attack on Kurdish café in the East Flemish city of Ghent on Tuesday night. A video of the incident shows the attackers wrecking the bar on Bevrijdingslaan. Police are investigating whether there is a link to recent tensions between the Turkish and Kurdish communities. No one was injured in the incident.
Tuesday night’s incident happened on the Bevrijdingslaan, in the Brugse Poort area of Ghent. Video footage shows a group of men approach the café and then smash its windows. Police confirmed that the incident took place but have not given any further information. It is unclear whether any arrests have been made.
The video also shows someone giving a Grey Wolf salute. The Grey Wolves is a nationalist Turkish movement. Recently, there have been renewed tensions between the Turkish and Kurdish communities. Police are investigating whether Tuesday night’s attack is linked to this.
Turkish protest
On Monday Turks in Ghent staged a protest. This followed an evening of violence between Turks and Kurds in two municipalities in Limburg Province of Sunday. Monday evening’s protest in Ghent was peaceful.
Demonstrators marched along the Sleepstraat, past Ghent Town Hall to the Brugse Poort. They chanted slogans against the armed Kurdish separatist movement PKK, an organisation that is on the EU terror list. Some of the demonstrators were masked.
Extra patrols
After talks with the Mayor of Ghent Mathias De Clercq (liberal) representatives of Ghent’s Turkish community agreed to issue a call for calm. Meanwhile, police have increased patrols in areas with large Turkish and Kurdish communities.