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Crime

Turkish embassy in Berlin attacked, vandalized

February 27, 2018

Paint bags were thrown at the Turkish embassy in Berlin under the cover a smoke bomb, according to police. The color of the paint suggests Kurds were behind the act.

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Paint attack on Turkish embassy in Berlin
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Zinken

Police closed off the street near the Turkish embassy in Berlin on Tuesday as part of an investigation into vandalization that left one of its walls splattered in red, green and yellow paint – the colors of the Kurdish flag.

Four darkly dressed people threw paint bags at the embassy and then fled the scene under the cover of a smoke bomb, according to the guards.

Read more: Who are the Kurds? 

Barbed wire was also laid out on a path by the embassy, which is located across from Berlin's Tiergarten park. A taxi driver witnessed fireworks or flares burning in the bushes.

Germany is home to 3 million people of Turkish-origin, and about 750,000 ethnic Kurds.

Conflicts between Ankara and Kurds in Turkey and Syria have regularly spilled over into Germany. Turkey's offensive against the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin in Syria has mobilized Kurds in Germany, with dozens of protests being held across the country over the past month.

 

Kurdish demo in front of Turkish embassy in Berlin (Getty Images/J. McDougall)
Kurds have been holding regular protests against the ongoing Turkish military offensive targeting the Syrian Kurdish enclave of AfrinImage: AFP/Getty Images

cw/kms (dpa)