Thousands of people joined pro-Kurdish demonstrations in a number of German cities, including Dortmund, Frankfurt and Bremenย on Tuesday evening, amid renewed clashes between Kurdish forces Syria and the country’s military.
The central German city of Frankfurt drew the biggest numbers, with police saying around 5,000 people took part.ย
Dortmund, in Germany’s west, attracted some 4,000 people, police there said. Most of the protesters in Dortmund were peaceful, police said, but clashes were recorded on the fringes and pyrotechnics were set off.
Police broke up a demonstration in Stuttgart attended by some 2,000 people after protesters threw bottles and pyrotechnics at police. Officers responded by using pepper spray.
Police in Hanover reported that at least 1,600 people took part in a demonstration that was broken up after about two hours due to what authorities described as non-cooperative behavior. Participants threw pyrotechnics at officers and covered their faces, police said.
Other rallies took place in Aachen, Dรผsseldorf and Mรผnster.
An estimated 1.3 million Kurds live in Germany. While the majority come from Turkey, others are from Syria, Iraq and Iran, according to Mediendienst Integration, a German migration information platform.
Protests over clashes in Syria between government troops and Kurdish-led forces
The rallies were protesting clashes in Syria between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and Syrian government troops.
Fighting between the two sides has intensified in recent days as government troops advanced into areas that have been under SDF control for years.
It comes amid a dispute over integrating the previously autonomous Kurdish regions into the state following the fall of former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian government and the SDF agreed on Tuesday evening to a new ceasefire initially set to last four days.
Edited by: Zac Crellin