So the explosion that we dread occurred at last but did not have significant consequences. I think it could have been more serious. The Kurds who raised the big flag that Turkmens (Turks) seized were becoming very angry! And as Turkmens were too already angry to see a Kurdish flag passed aboe their heads, the time bomb fatally exploded. There were blows from both sides. A policeman was near to our group, the French ones. I saw that he hesitated to intervener. Guessing that the fight could become general, he called immediately reinforcements. So our group spontaneously decided to move away the scene because we feared that if a lot of policemen arrive in reinforcement, some of us would be arrested, and we had to take our bus 30 minutes later !
Safety forces came very quickly. After few minutes, they were everywhere in the place ! Before their coming, people fought each other, here and there. I saw a young man fallen on the ground that other beat but I don’t know if he was Kurd or Turkmen (Turk ?). Further a young Turkmen (a Turk?) with a small turquoise flag around his head : he had received blows and wanted to be absolutely avenged whereas a policeman tried to prevent it. Some held each others by the collar but were not able to strike really for people separated them.
In any case with the arrival of policemen in reinforcement the situation calmed down a bit, because they succeeded in separating the two groups. I did not see them arresting people, it was especially a force of interposition. There were always tensions but no physical confrontation. And there were still verbal provocations . Turkmens shout ever in Turkish. At a moment, they started to shout very loudly :”la ilaha ilala, Mohammed rasulala!” Then, after Ataturk, our Turkmen youth recited us what seems to be verses of Coran!!! I did understand anything ! In fact it made me laugh….
Suddenly a car arrived, very speedy. An old MBW from Belgium. In the car, there were a young man, a young girl and in the back a teen-ager girl, I think. The car stopped in a crowded street which passes front of “Centraal Station”. And the boy get out of his car. Nothing allow to think that he was Kurd or Turkmen, until he began to make “fuck !” toward Kurds. Policemen asked him to come back in his car for he plagued other drivers who were blocked behind his car. Then he attacked a policeman, so he finished his show in their van. But I don’t know if they take him later in their station for it was about 2h45 pm and we had to reach our bus. It took quite minutes of walk to go to the park. On the way, I saw 5 ou 6 bus parked along the road. I beieved that they had just arrived to deposit electors for I saw some people getting down and went toward “Centraal Station”. But I was too far from their bus and I could not see from which country they were.
At alst we saw our bus. It was parked in a place wathced by 2 policemen. In the same park-place many buses waited for their passengers. There could less than 10. We get up in our bus, direction Paris. More than 7 hours to travel ! To return, our bus did pass front of “Centraal Station”. There we saw the same scenes, the same provocations and policemen were still present to prevent all new troubles.
The return appeared longer to me. I was really tired and wanted only to sleep! I have to say that since the night of our departure for Utrecht I did not sleep at all. And all the day I walked a lot. I tried to sleep in the bus but it is not easy. Each tilme I closed my eyes, my head knocked against the pane!
But others were full of energy, in particular Kurdish students of Paris who have sung many time. One of them imitated politicians. Everyone burst of laughing when he imitated Bashar El Asad (Syrian president) or Nesrîn Berwarî and her husband! On the other hand he did not succeed to do the same thing our “national Jacko” (Jacques Chirac, French President) because his French was very approximate (he is a grant holder of French government).
An else man, who could be 60 years old, was tonic too! He told jokes and laughed.
But I was down! I had not even the courage to get tout the bus for coffee-breaks. No more energy than a vegetable !
Le bus s’est arrêté deux fois au retour.Une fois en Belgique et la deuxième fois à100 km de Paris.
We arrived to Paris about 10h15 pm. The driver had to deposit to us front of the Kurdish Institute, rue Lafayette. But fifteen among us were not Parisian. Then we asked to the driver to deposit us directly front of the East Station, by hoping that the last train of the evening had not left. If it did, we would have spent the night in this Station. We had still a long way to make before arriving at home ! We hope that the last train for our city only went at 10h30. We just had time to buy all our tickets train and to jump into.
Our train arrived about 00h30. We recovered our cars which we left at the station and we came back at home. I arrived around 1h00 am. I had just strengh enough to take a shower. A few minutes later I was in bed, with the feeling to have made my duty, and my mond was full of good but bad images too.
But it was important and it had to be done. I do not regret anything. And If I have to do it again, I won’t hesitate…
[…] (To be continued) […]