Turkey FM claims police brutality at Rotterdam protests
Turkey is demanding action against the Dutch police for using disproportionate violence against "peaceful Turkish protesters" in Rotterdam on Saturday night, sources from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said to Reuters.
The Turkish government also claims that the Netherlands' banning two Turkish Ministers from the country is a violation of the Vienna convention. Finally the Turkish government wants information about Turkish citizens injured in the Rotterdam protests, RTL Nieuws reports. The Dutch envoy in Turkey was summoned to receive the complaints about the Rotterdam police's actions against Turkish-Dutch protesters, according to the broadcaster.
On Saturday night and during the early hours of Sunday morning the Rotterdam police clashed with protesters at the Turkish consulate in the city. The protest got out of hand after the Dutch government denied access to the country and consulate to two Turkish Ministers. One of the Ministers, Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya of Family Affairs, spent hours in a car in front of the consulate, because she was not allowed to enter. She was eventually driven to Germany, escorted by the Dutch police.
In the incidents that followed, Turkish-Dutch protesters pelted the police with stones and bottles. And the riot police used dogs, water canons and batons to disperse the demonstrators. The Rotterdam police announced on Sunday that a total of seven people were injured, including a police officer.
