Fighting Breaks Out at Turkish President’s Speech in New York
A police official, who spoke about the investigation on the condition of anonymity, said it appeared the fight had been instigated
by competing protesters, not by Mr. Erdogan’s security forces, who have a history of violent run-ins in the United States.
Halil Demir, a Turkish-American who works for a humanitarian organization, said he had been standing near the back
of the room when three protesters stood up in rapid succession: a young man, a young woman and a middle-aged man.
Seconds, really." Mr. Demir said he later saw the man on the floor, handcuffed, outside the ballroom where
Mr. Erdogan was speaking at the invitation of the Turkish American National Steering Committee.
In the middle of Mr. Erdogan’s speech, delivered in Turkish, a man — one of a handful of protesters — screamed in English: "You’re a terrorist.
In May, during Mr. Erdogan’s last official visit to the United States, members of his security team
attacked a group of peaceful protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington.
In 2011, the security forces took part in a fight at the United Nations headquarters in New York that sent at least one officer to the hospital.
The New York Police Department said about five protesters were "briefly detained." No arrests were made, and no injuries were reported.