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Kurdish protests spill into Swiss cities

Smoke rising after an apparent air strike by allied forces against Islamic State tragets east of the Syrian town of Kobane Keystone

Activists have demonstrated across Europe, including in Switzerland’s four main cities, to call for additional international support to stop the Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq.

This content was published on October 7, 2014 - 18:08
swissinfo.ch and agencies

Police in Geneva intervened to prevent a group of Kurdish protesters on Tuesday from entering the compound of the United Nations European headquarters.

Flying the Kurdish flag, several hundred demonstrators staged a demonstration outside to condemn the attacks by jihadists.

In Zurich, the protestors marched on the Turkish consulate to Switzerland, accusing the Turkish authorities of inaction over the Syrian-Turkish border town of Kobane.

Another group of demonstrators took to the streets in the Swiss capital, Bern.

On Monday, a demonstration in Basel blocked traffic for several hours in the city centre.

The Europe-wide protests come as fighting continues to rage around Kobane. The United States-led coalition carried out more air strikes to try to aid Syrian Kurds defenders.

Observers say at least 400 people have died in three weeks of fighting for Kobane. An estimated 160,000 people in Syria have fled their homes.

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