Violence erupts against Green Left Party members in run-up to Turkish elections
Green Left Party (YSP) supporters and far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) supporters on May 1 clashed with each other in France's Marseille as the elections abroad continue. Furthermore, two YSP members was wounded in a knife attack at the party's election stand on May 2 in Turkey's Edirne.
Duvar English
Green Left Party (YSP) supporters and far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) supporters who came to vote for Turkish elections in France's Marseille on May 1 clashed with each other. During the incident, four people were injured and hospitalized while French police detained two people.
In the first incident, police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, according to reporting by VOA Turkish. However, a second clash took place in the following hours, and voting was suspended due to the incidents. The Marseille Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation regarding the incidents.
According to eyewitnesses, the clashes broke out when a group of Kurdish youth from the May Day march approached the election queue chanting Kurdish slogans. When a group of MHP supporters responded with the hand sign of the ultranationalist organization the Gray Wolves, the clashes erupted.
The Green Left party is the back-up party of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the upcoming elections over closure risk.
Assailants attack Green Left Party election stand in Edirne
On the other hand, assailants on May 2 organized a knife attack against the YSP’s election stand in Turkey's northwestern province of Edirne. Turkish police detained two suspects after the incident.
YSP’s Edirne district branch announced that police detained five of their party members. Accordingly, assailants broke one party member's arm and injured one of the parliamentary candidates.