The shooting of a Kurdish cultural center in Paris on Rue d’Enghien killed three people and injured four others in clashes with protesters

French police on Friday fired teargas amid clashes with agitated protesters outside a Kurdish community center in central Paris, where a gunman earlier killed three people and injured four others.

The clashes with dozens of protesters, mostly from the Kurdish diaspora, broke out when French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin was visiting the scene of the shooting, at Kurdish Cultural Center Ahmet-Kaya on Rue d’Enghien.

The suspected attacker is in custody. All three people killed during the shooting inside and near the center were Kurds, the center’s lawyer confirmed to CNN.

Shocked members of the Kurdish community in Paris said they had been recently warned by police of threats to Kurdish targets, and demanded justice after the shooting.

Paris’ anti-terror prosecutor is “evaluating” the facts, but the investigation is still being led by the city’s judicial authorities, the anti-terror prosecutor’s office told CNN Friday.

Following the incident, crowds gathered near the center, where people from the Kurdish diaspora were heard chanting the Kurdish phrase “Şehid Namirin,” which means: Those who are lost are never really lost but with us, according to CNN’s team on the ground.

Some people were also heard chanting “Murderer Erdogan,” in a reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s robust stance against Kurdish nationalism, and his policies towards Kurdish far-left militant and political groups based in Turkey and Iraq.

Three people are dead and three others are wounded after a shooting at a Kurdish cultural center in Paris. A 69-year-old male suspect was wounded and arrested.

The Paris prosecutor said the suspect had recently been released from prison after attacking migrants living in tents, and that investigators are considering a possible racist motive for the shooting.

The attacker of a shooting in the 10th arrondissement of Paris is not supported by the French justice system, according to Murat Roni

Skirmishes erupted in the neighborhood a few hours after the shooting, as members of the Kurdish community shouted slogans against the Turkish government, and police fired tear gas to disperse the increasingly agitated crowd. Garbage bins were set on fire.

The mayor of the 10th arrondissement said there was a shooting at a Kurdish cultural center and that a restaurant and hairdresser were nearby.

A construction worker who was working nearby said he saw the attacker go first to the cultural center, then to the restaurant and finally the hairdresser. The construction worker told The Associated Press that he saw the assailant injure three people, then two passersby intervened and stopped the attacker.

The worker, who spoke on condition of not being published because he was concerned for his security, described the attacker to be silent and calm while he held a pistol.

There are shops and restaurants near the Gare de l’Est train station on a busy street in the 10th arrondissement of the French capital.

The suspect was involved in at least two prior run-ins with the police, one of which was an attack on migrants in tents in eastern Paris in 2021. She did not elaborate on the details of either case.

The attacker had several registered weapons and attended a shooting range. He added that the attacker is French and was not on any radicalism watch lists, or known for involvement in any extreme-right or other political movements.

“We do not at all feel protected in Paris,” activist Murat Roni told The AP. We don’t feel supported by the French justice system. The Kurds are clearly the ones who were targeted.

He described the cultural center “like the embassy for Kurds in Paris,” a gathering place for cultural events, political discussion, assistance with immigration procedures, “a house where all Kurds get together.”

In 2013, three women Kurdish activists, including Sakine Cansiz — a founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK — were found shot dead at a Kurdish center in Paris. A Turkish citizen was charged with their killing, although suspicion also fell on the Turkish intelligence service.

Turkey’s army has been battling against Kurdish militants affiliated with the banned PKK, in southeast Turkey as well as in northern Iraq. Turkey’s military recently launched a series of strikes from the air against Kurdish targets in northern Syria. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey, Europe and the United States, and has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.