Hundreds of Syrian Kurds gathered in Hasakeh in northern Syria on Sunday (December 25) to protest against deadly gun attack in Paris that targeted local Kurdish community.
A gunman opened fire at a Kurdish cultural centre and a hairdressing salon in Paris on Friday, killing three Kurds.
The suspected gunman, a 69-year-old Frenchman, was arrested and later confessed to a “pathological” hatred for foreigners, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.
The semi-autonomous Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria called for the Sunday protest in Hasakeh, which drew hundreds of people brandishing photos of the three victims and calling for accountability.
“Kurds are fighting against oppression and they are massacred everywhere, even in Paris, the city of love and freedom,” said feminist activist Evin Basho, 33, demanding that the killer be brought to justice.
The protesters marched through the city chanting “the martyrs of Paris are forever in our hearts” and repeating slogans against “the extermination” of the Kurdish people.
The Kurdish diaspora is often described as world’s largest ethnic group without a state. Kurdish people are spread across Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran.
Protester Azad Suleiman, 55, told AFP he felt Kurds were being targeted in the diaspora and at home.
“This is a war against our people, targeting us in the four parts of Kurdistan and even in Europe,” he said, adding he had high hopes that the French authorities would bring the perpetrator to justice.
“We will not concede to the enemies in Kurdistan and we will not abandon our revolution,” Suleiman said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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