As the US-led coalition continues airstrikes against the extremist Islamic State (ISIL) in Syria, several Syrian humanitarian organizations have asked the international community to prevent the extremists from taking control of the Syrian border town of Kobani.
Seven groups, including the Kurdish Organization for Human Rights and the Organization for Human Rights in Syria, assessed that the ISIL attacks on the city and its surroundings, which began in mid-September, represented "a clear form of persecution and ethnic cleansing."
The groups said the conflict displaced nearly 280.000 people, who fled in fear of "murders, executions, slaughter, beheadings, mutilations and abduction of women and children," AP reported.
Last night, the United Nations envoy for Syria, Stefan de Mistura, requested that the international community immediately defend Kobani, which is in danger of falling into the hands of jihadists.
In the meantime, the international coalition today carried out new, so far fiercest airstrikes against members of ISIL in Kobane, after yesterday's series of attacks on extremists in that town on the border with Turkey, inhabited mainly by Kurds.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the extremists withdrew from the western parts of the city during the night, but they are still present in the eastern parts and on the southern outskirts of Kobane.
ISIL fighters, as AFP recalled, entered Kobani on Monday evening, after almost three weeks of fighting, in which at least 400 people died.
In Washington, from the administration of US President Barack Obama, one can hear disappointment and dissatisfaction over "Turkey's excuse not to do more, to intervene militarily".
"There is growing anger at Turkey's delay in acting to prevent a massacre, about a kilometer from its border. Regardless of the galloping humanitarian disaster in Syria, they are inventing reasons not to act to prevent another disaster. This is not the way an ally in NATO is reacting while all hell is unfolding a step away from their border," said one senior US official.
Turkey is rocked by protests due to the government's refusal to act militarily against jihadists who have seized part of Kobane, Turkish media reports, stating that 19 people have lost their lives and several dozen have been injured in clashes between protesters and the police.
Demonstrators erected barricades in several Istanbul districts last night and threw stones and smoke bombs at the police, whose member was injured.
Turkish police used tear gas and water cannons to break up similar protests in the mainly Kurdish towns of Diyarbakır, Batman, Van, Sirnak, Sanliurfi and Hakkari.
Across Europe, hundreds of thousands of Kurds quickly mobilized through social networks and organized protests after the attack on Kobane.
At least 23 people were injured in Hamburg and the Lower Saxon town of Cele in clashes between radical Islamists and Kurds, German media reported today, stating that some were seriously injured.
The demonstrations in Hamburg are reported to have started peacefully, and then to a conflict with Islamists, most likely Salafists, and a similar thing happened in the city of Cele, where Yezidis and Chechen Muslims clashed fiercely, also under unclear circumstances.
About 400 Kurds gathered in Hamburg last night, and opposite them were the same number of radical Muslims, probably Salafists, the media reports, stating that there were "violent confrontations" between some of the members of both groups, and the Hamburg police confirmed that there were more injured and that water cannons were used to separate the groups.
Among the clashing demonstrators, there were also those who, as stated, had knives and clubs.
"Bitter scenes, injured, the police tried to disperse small groups of people, armed with batons," tweeted one deputy of the Green party in the Hamburg parliament.
According to one version, the conflict occurred when a group of Muslims agreed through Facebook to attack the Kurdish center in Hamburg and there, as well as in front of the Al-Nour mosque, there was an escalation of violence. "One young man was injured with a knife, another with a skewer from gyros in the stomach," tweeted citizens who witnessed the conflict.
"I feel like I'm living in Hamburgistan. The mood was very explosive," said Danijel Abdin, chairman of the Al-Nour Mosque, adding that they live in Germany under the rule of law and condemn any form of violence.
The media report that it is not even clear where the Salafists came from, that is, whether the 400 or so people who gathered were really Salafists and their sympathizers.
Experts say that there are about 4.500 Salafists in all of Germany and that a small number of them are ready for violence.
In front of the Vienna headquarters of the UN, ten Kurds from Austria went on a hunger strike, with which they want to point out the situation in the city of Rojava, which was occupied by the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIL).
"ISIL is already in Kobane, genocide is coming," warned Nina Rojbas from the Association of Kurdish Clubs in Vienna (FYROM) in an address to journalists.
In Brussels, dozens of Kurdish protesters stormed the European Parliament building in Brussels yesterday, demanding quick military action against ISIL militants in order to save Kobane from destruction, and the delegation of protesters was received by EP President Martin Schulz.
About 50 demonstrators broke through the security of the EP building and occupied the multimedia stage "Vox Box", carrying flags, some of which included the picture of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), who is in prison, the Russian channel "Rasha Today" reported. .
Schulz said that this is not the way to express demands, but that he fully shares their concern for the situation in which the civilian population is in Syria and Iraq, especially when it comes to the situation in the border town of Kobane in Syria.
He promised to discuss it with the NATO Secretary General and top EU officials.
During the night, the Kurds also broke into the Dutch Parliament building in The Hague as a sign of protest, and this morning they met with MPs demanding stronger action by the Netherlands against ISIL, local media reported.
Also, Kurdish demonstrators gathered in front of the French Parliament building last night, and announced protests in Paris for today.
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