Around 80 Kurdish demonstrators who were returning from rallies caused a train to be stopped near Hamburg on Thursday. A massive police force was deployed to restore order, with clashes erupting and arrests made.
The trouble on the train started as soon as the people, described as “activists” by the German media, boarded in the town of Luneburg, Lower Saxony. They were all members of a Kurdish youth movement returning from rallies that took place in Hanover, Celle, Uelzen, Lüneburg and Harburg earlier in the day.
The men, who were reportedly traveling without tickets, became aggressive and abused a female train conductor during a check.
Their behavior prompted the driver to stop the train shortly afterwards not far from the town of Bardowick. The police were called in, with a whopping 200 officers arriving at the scene to calm things down.
But despite their large presence in full riot gear, “many people continued to be uncooperative,” police said. Clashes broke out, in which the Kurds kicked and hit the officers, delivering minor injuries to several of them.
A number of arrests were made. Several of the most aggressive activists now face charges of assault and resisting police.
When the rest of the protesters had their papers checked, it turned out that a dozen of them didn’t have permission to live in Germany, including three minors.
Germany has a large Kurdish population, estimated at around a million people.
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