Protesters and police clashes after a shooting at the Kurdish Cultural Center Ahmet-Kaya in Paris, France
Clashes between protesters and police have broken out in central Paris on Saturday, as members of the local Kurdish community took to the streets to call for justice following Friday’s deadly shooting at a Kurdish cultural center.
When French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin visited the scene of the shooting at the Kurdish Cultural Center Ahmet- Kaya he encountered protesters who were mostly Kurds.
The suspected attacker has been arrested. The lawyer for the center confirmed to CNN that there were Kurds killed inside and near the center.
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.
The anti-terror prosecutor is looking at the facts but the investigation is still being led by the city’s judicial authorities.
The crowd gathered near the center heard people from the Kurdish community chant “ehid Namirin”, meaning that those who are lost are never really lost but with us.
Some people were heard chanting “Murderer Erdogan,” a reference to Turkish President’s stance against Kurdish nationalism and his policies towards Kurdish militant and political groups.
PARIS — A shooting targeting a Kurdish cultural center in a bustling Paris neighborhood Friday left three people dead and three others wounded, authorities said. A 69-year-old 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 spree in a French cultural center: “It’s the French Embassy for Kurds in Paris,” said the mayor
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. There were garbage bins that were set on fire.
The shooting occurred at a Kurdish cultural center in the city’s 10th arrondissement, according to the mayor.
A construction worker who was on a job nearby described seeing the assailant go first to the cultural center, then to the restaurant and then 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 his name not be published because he was concerned for his security, described the attacker as silent and calm as he wielded a small-caliber pistol.
There are police surrounding a busy street in the 10th arrondissement of French capital with shops and restaurants near a train station.
The prosecutor said the suspect had at least two prior run-ins with police: the attack on migrants in tents in eastern Paris in 2021, and a recent conviction in another case in a Paris suburb. She didn’t elaborate on details of either case.
The attacker attended a shooting range and had weapons, according to Darmanin. The attacker is a French man who is not known for his involvement with extreme-right or other political movements.
Activist Roni told The AP that they don’t feel protected in Paris. The French justice system is not defended by us. “It’s clearly the Kurds 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 launched a string of strikes from the air and with live fire against Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria. The PKK is a terrorist organization and has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
Live images of the shooting of a French Kurdish community member in the Ahmet-Kaakurdish cultural center on Friday
Live images from CNN’s affiliate BFMTV, as well as news agencies Reuters and AFP show damaged streets and smoke rising from cars as demonstrators clash with police.
The place of Friday’s shooting is close to the Ahmet- Kaya Kurdish cultural center which is situated in the heart of the French capital.
A march in central Paris on Saturday, organized in the aftermath of the shooting, has been called off earlier than planned by the Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDKF) due to the clashes.
According to the CDKF, the march was suspended in order to avoid the damages at the Place de la Republique.
Many protesters remain at Place de la République and Place de la Bastille, the scheduled end point of the march, even after the event was canceled. Some cars have been turned upside down and burned at Place de Bastille according to Live images.
Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez was scheduled to meet with leaders of the Kurdish community today at 10 a.m. local time, at the request of French President Emmanuel Macron and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, Paris Police said in a statement.
Darmanin told journalists that he was not part of any far right groups monitored by the police. “He (the suspect) clearly wanted to take it out on foreigners,” the minister added.
The shooting has not been labeled a terrorist attack, but investigators are still looking into possible racist motives.