Blocked roads, tear gas and rubber bullets, stone throwing ... The funeral of Mir Perwer, Kurdish singer killed in late December in Paris during a racist attack, took place under tension Thursday in the east from Turkey.
The artist, a political refugee, was buried in the presence of members of his family in the province of Mus.
However, the roads leading to the place chosen for the funeral had been blocked by gendarmes, preventing several groups of people, including elected members of the pro-Kurdish HDP party, from attending the funeral.
Tear gas and rubber bullets were fired by the security forces to disperse the groups that had formed.
A water cannon was also used by the gendarmes, while men unhappy at not being able to attend the funeral responded by throwing stones.*
Blocked convoy
The funeral of Abdurrahman Kizil, another Kurd killed in Paris at the end of December, also took place on Thursday, in a village in the province of Kars, in northeastern Turkey.
Part of the convoy accompanying his remains was blocked approaching the funeral site, according to the media close to the Kurdish movement Yeni Yasam and a deputy of the pro-Kurdish party DBP, Saliha Aydeniz.
Emine Kara, the third victim of the Paris attack, was buried in Iraqi Kurdistan during a politically charged ceremony organized in the presence of members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a group considered as a terrorist by Ankara and its Western allies.
These three Kurds were killed on December 23 in front of a cultural center of their community in Paris.
The shooter, William M., a 69-year-old Frenchman already known to justice for acts of violence, justified his action by his "pathological hatred of foreigners".
Company
Racist attack in Paris: Kurds in France and Europe pay tribute to those killed in the shooting
Miscellaneous facts
Racist attack against Kurds: William M. also at the center of the investigation into a raid in a migrant camp
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