50 Police Officers Called to Muslim-Yazidi Brawl in Germany

Fifty police officers had to be deployed to break up an enormous brawl between Kurds and Muslims in North-West Germany last night, as angry migrants took to the streets to vent frustrations as the violence being visited upon the Yazidi Kurds in Northern Iraq by radical ISIS forces spills over onto European soil.

The confrontation, which involved sixty Yazidis and thirty Muslim counter-protestors was described as a ‘running battle’ when the officers moved to separate the two groups at around 1730 last night. According to theLocal.de those involved used street furniture as well as their fists, and six were injured. So far no arrests have been made, but police have indicated they expect more violence. 

The fight followed a Europe-wide day of protest by Kurdish groups, who are trying to bring attention to the plight of the Kurdish people, which has involved occupations of radio stations and street protests. The ethnic Kurds in Northern Iraq now appear to be trapped between rapidly advancing ISIS forces from the South, and the Turks to the North who are fundamentally opposed to an independent Kurdish state.

Kurds have suffered terrible treatment at the hands of ISIS as they capture settlements. A report in the Guardian quotes one local who came back to him home to find his sister and eight year-old niece left behind by ISIS: “They had been raped, and their hearts were cut out of their chests and left on top of the bodies… I buried them with my own hands”.

Protests by Yazidi groups have continued sporadically over the past couple of months in countries across Europe. Yesterday was the second time violence has flared in North-West Germany, as 300 Yazidis clashed with a group of ISIS supporters on the streets of Herford in August. People fought with knives, broken bottles, workshop tools and Police confiscated one gun.

Oxford Street station in London was occupied yesterday, which severely delayed services in central London for hours. Reports have also emerged today that a group of Kurds protesting outside the European Parliament have now stormed the building, and hundreds are now occupying EU buildings.