[ Anchor
Lead] Three Kurds were killed in an indiscriminate shooting in the middle of downtown Paris, France.
While weighing on the possibility of racist hate crimes, angry Kurdish protesters and police clashed.
Correspondent Kwak Sang-eun in Paris covered the story.
<Reporter>
Angry Kurdish protesters have gathered in the center of Paris.
Yesterday (23rd), three Kurds were killed in a shooting incident around a nearby cultural center, and they gathered to protest the lukewarm response of the French government.
As the protest escalated into violence, such as destroying cars, police fired tear gas to disperse them.
Angry Kurdish protesters set fire to one side of the road while chanting slogans and confronted armed police.
Protesters were outraged that the French government was not letting go despite repeated hate crimes and violence targeting the Kurds.
[Kurds living in Paris: Not the first time.
Similar violence against Kurds is repeated every year, and three people have been killed today.
This is not normal.] The
protesters dispersed as night fell, but people continued to pay tribute to the victims at the scene of the incident until late.
The shooting suspect, who was caught yesterday at the scene, is a 69-year-old white man of French nationality, who was imprisoned last year for attacking a resident of a migrant tent village in downtown Paris with a weapon.
[Darmanin/French Minister of the Interior: They obviously targeted foreigners.
The investigation will confirm whether it is specifically targeting the Kurds.]
The Kurds are known to be the largest among the peoples without an independent state in the world, and in 2013, three Kurdish women were also killed in Paris.
(Video coverage: Sinae Kim, Video editing: Byungjik Kim)