Violence erupted when protesters disrupted a speech at a New York hotel by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, The New York Times is reporting.
"You're a terrorist," screamed one protester in English. Get out of my country!"
Many of those attending at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square began chanting Erdogan's name to drown out the six protesters, the newspaper said.
One of the protesters was wearing a T-shirt with a photo of Michael Israel, an American who died in a Turkish airstrike while volunteering with the Kurdish People's Protection Units., the Times reported.
The protester was seen being punched by several people in the audience as he was led away by security personnel.
Meghan Bodette, who said she was one the protesters, claimed they wanted "to call attention to the Turkish state's war crimes and human rights abuses against the Kurdish people," both in Turkey and in Syria.
But witnesses at the hotel said Erdogan appeared to be unfazed by the protests. And the New York Police department said no arrests were made. One police official said the violence had been sparked by competing protesters not by Erdogan's security forced.
The New York Post noted 15 Turkish security guards have been indicted for assaults on protesters on Washington's Embassy Row as Erdogan watched on May 16.
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