Off the wire
• Authorities impose curfew in India's Odisha state following communal violence  • Iran, Kazakhstan to cooperate in agricultural sector  • Chinese gov't cuts budget on overseas trips, vehicles, receptions  • DPRK supreme leader receives message of thanks from Syrian president  • Foreign Secretary Johnson calls off visit to Moscow  • Spain's separatist group ETA hands over weapons in disarmament procedure  • Moroccan labor union urges strike for wage hike, pension revision  • Political solution needed after U.S. missile strike on Syria: Turkish FM  • Regulator warns listed firms over fraud, little dividend payout  • Basque separatist group ETA gives French police details of arms caches  
You are here: 　 Home

30 injured in clash between Turks and Syrian refugees in Turkey

Xinhua, April 8, 2017 Adjust font size:

Thirty people were injured on Saturday in a fight between Turkish residents and Syrian refugees in Turkey's western city of Izmir, local media reported.

The clash erupted when around 300 residents in Torbali district attacked Syrian refugees with sticks and knives over a claim that a Turkish child was beaten by a group of Syrians, the Hurriyet daily said.

After the incident some 500 refugees were forced to leave the neighborhood, where they had been staying in tents, the daily noted.

The Syrians tried to leave the area by hitchhiking on the highway, but they had to walk away on foot as no driver would take them, according to the report.

The report also said angry Turks closed the traffic on the highway for some time, while others set on fire around 40 tents used by the refugees.

"It was impossible to stop the residents," Ali Curukcu from the local authority was quoted as saying. "They were very angry."

Curukcu also urged the authorities to relocate all the Syrians to refugee camps, saying "similar incidents in the area have increased significantly with their arrival."

Turkey is hosting over 3 million Syrian refugees on its soil. Endit