A group of pro-Kurdish protesters have clashed with Turkish government supporters and German police at Duesseldorf airport, leaving several injured.
The violence broke out on March 11 when protesters opposed to Turkey's ongoing military operation in Afrin, a Kurdish-controlled area in northern Syria, were met by supporters of the Turkish offensive and German police, who used pepper spray to restore order at the airport.
The AFP news agency quoted federal police as saying "a number of people" suffered injuries in the clashes, which did not affect travelers at the airport.
Images on social media showed protesters holding a banner that read "Afrin is becoming our Vietnam -- We will defeat fascism."
Several spontaneous protests have taken place across Germany, which is home to a large Turkish immigrant population, in response to advances by Turkish troops on Afrin, with just a couple of hundred meters separating them from the city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict through a network of activists on the ground.
Ankara launched the offensive on January 20, with the aim of dislodging the People's Protection Units (YPG), a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia that Turkey considers to be a terrorist group.
