The police made use of tear-gas to disperse the protest on Paris' Place de la Concorde, which led many to lose consciousness, Sputnik's on-the-scene correspondent reported.
The rally continued till late at night. According to the official data, no fewer than ten protesters sustained injuries, some of them in the head.
The police detained several people and put them into buses. After the rally was dispersed, small groups of protesters returned to the Place de la Concorde, chanting the slogans "Erdogan Is a Fascist" and "Let’s Help Afrin."
Media reported that even the special SINUS medical assistance system was there to minimize injuries.
URGENT: Le plan SINUS est déclenché pour secourir les blessés suite à la manifestation des kurdes devant l’ambassade des USA à Paris #Afrin pic.twitter.com/wKMLDBwMdS
— MARWIN LEE (@marwinleeOFF) 13 марта 2018 г.
"They arrived, assailed us. They made use of tear-gas, gas against 70 year-old women. Dozens of casualties? Have a look at the ambulance cars – they are full. The have equipment, whereas we don’t. We had only flags, nothing more," one of the protesters said.
According to him, the Kurds would continue to stage rallies in Paris.
Manifestation Kurdes a Paris à côté de l’ambassade USA. Des blessés #Fight4Afrin pic.twitter.com/eC8w7aH6Bf
— Xenia__Sputnik (@XseniaSputnik) 13 марта 2018 г.
For the past few days, the Kurds have been taking to the streets of the French capital daily in protest against the Turkish operation in Syria. On Tuesday afternoon they gathered on a wide esplanade in front of The National Residence of the Invalids. The demonstration was dispersed by the police, which detained at least 35 activists.
On March 12, Anadolu news agency reported, with reference to military sources, that the Turkish military and the Free Syrian Army were moving closer towards Afrin. According to the media outlet, a total of 1,100 square kilometers of the Afrin region have been cleared of Kurdish forces during the operation.
READ MORE: Erdogan Says Turkey Will Fully Encircle Afrin, Will 'Stomp' on Militants in Iraq
On January 20, Ankara launched a military operation dubbed "Olive Branch" in Syria's Afrin region, aiming to set Turkey's Syrian border free from its own "terrorist threat." The town of Afrin in northern Syria reportedly remains under the control of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which, along with the northern Syrian Kurdish political party PYD is considered by Turkey to be linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been deemed as a terrorist organization in Turkey and a number of other countries.
