On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit with President Trump was met with a clash between protesters, supporters, and bodyguards outside the Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C. The fighting led to multiple injuries and arrests.
Per the New York Times (and you can watch the violent scuffle below):
A group of demonstrators started to chant anti-Erdogan slogans and held up placards that read “Free Demirtas,” a reference to Selahattin Demirtas, the jailed leader of the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, or H.D.P.
A separate group waving Turkish flags arrived and started chanting slogans in support of Mr. Erdogan, the VOA reported. The verbal stand off then turned physical.
A demonstration outside the Turkish Embassy in northwest Washington led to nine people being injured, and two arrested pic.twitter.com/6SQTlQAUaa
— Voice of America (@VOANews) May 17, 2017
The fighting spread quickly into a nearby park where police, some swinging batons, attempted to restore order to the scene. It didn’t take long for officials to confirm that it was President Erdogan’s own bodyguards who were involved in suppressing the protestors. A state-owned Turkish news agency also confirmed the Turkish security team’s involvement.
US officials confirm to NBC News men who beat protesters outside Turkish Embassy in DC are Pres. Erdogan's bodyguards https://t.co/jaxfflCu7G
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) May 17, 2017
Sen. John McCain took to Twitter to call the Turkish bodyguards’ actions “thuggish.”
This is the United States of America. We do not do this here. There is no excuse for this kind of thuggish behavior. https://t.co/WsIln8gOX5
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) May 17, 2017
A similar skirmish occurred last year in D.C. while Erdogan was giving a speech outside the Brookings Institute. During that fighting, Erdogan’s security team “roughed up protesters outside the building and tried to drag away ‘undesired’ journalists.”
The Tuesday incident occurred after President Trump met with President Erdogan and praised him for his assistance in fighting ISIS, although Trump ignored Erdogan’s more authoritarian actions in Turkey.
(via New York Times)