Protesters have clashed with police as they call for justice over the killing of three people in a Kurdish neighbourhood in Paris.
Several hundred representatives of France’s Kurdish community gathered at Place de la République on Saturday to demand answers over the killings, which they say have left the community afraid.
Footage showed some of the protesters holding flags and others throwing items at police, who used teargas to disperse the crowd.
The people were killed on Friday when a gunman opened fire at a Kurdish cultural centre, the Ahmet-Kaya centre, on Rue d’Enghien in the 10th arrondissement. Shots were also fired at a hairdresser’s and a restaurant in the street. Three people were wounded, one critically.
Police arrested a 69-year-old man who the authorities said had recently been released from detention while awaiting trial for a sabre attack on a refugee camp in Paris a year ago.
The Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDK-F) put a callout on its website and social media for people to gather from midday at Republic Square, a traditional venue for demonstrations in the capital.
Hours earlier there were clashes between police and people who had gathered at the scene of the attack.
The Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau has said the investigation would look into possible racist motives, but Kurdish representatives say the incident should be regarded as a terrorist attack.
Prosecutors said the suspect’s detention had been extended by 24 hours and the scope of the investigation – for murder and attempted murder – had been formally expanded to include the possible motive of racism.
“The addition of this element [to the potential charges] does not however affect the maximum penalty for the alleged crimes, which remains life imprisonment,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Berivan Firat, a spokesperson for the CDK-F, told the French news channel BFM TV: “We know that we are under threat, Kurds in general, Kurdish activists and militants. France owes us protection.”
David Andic, a lawyer representing CDK-F, said Friday’s killings had left the Kurdish community in fear as it prepared to mark the 10th anniversary of the killings of three Kurdish women in Paris in January 2013.
“The Kurdish community is afraid,” Andic said. “It was already traumatised by the triple murder [in 2013]. It needs answers, support and consideration.”
Paris’s police chief had been due to meet members of the Kurdish community before Saturday’s protest.