On Wednesday afternoon, a crowd of migrants from Turkey breached security lines at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport over the deportation of a friend, injuring 3.
Watch:
[Warning: Violence]
The mob attack came in response to the deportation of a 24-year-old Kurdish activist named Firaz Korkmaz, according to reports:
Korkmaz is apparently a member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a militant political group seeking greater rights and autonomy for Kurdish citizens of Turkey.
The PKK is labeled a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, and the EU.
Others have refuted Korkmaz's connections to the group, saying he is instead a part of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), a pro-Kurdish socialist party that is formally recognized in Turkey, and fled to France for political asylum after two of his friends were jailed.
Regardless, apparently he was too extreme for France, which essentially has an open door for migrants. He was arrested on February 26 in Strasbourg with another activist, during a demonstration in front of the headquarters of the human-rights group Council of Europe. His friend Mehmet was also arrested and is still in French custody.
Despite the (literal) fight seeking to keep him from being flown back to face Turkish prison (or worse), Korkmaz was ultimately deported.
More:
The confrontation, initially confined to the police station, escalated to the terminal, compelling military intervention to reestablish order, much to the surprise of onlookers. The demonstrators aggressively confronted officers from the National Expulsions Unit (Unesi), leading the deportation effort of the Kurdish activist, and attempted to breach gates leading to a restricted area without authorization.
Police have not made any arrests connected to the airport attack.
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