Turkiye detained hundreds after anti-Syrian riots: minister

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused opposition parties of stoking xenophobia and racism on Monday July 1, 2024, a day after residents in a neighborhood in central Turkiye set Syrian-owned shops on fire. (AP)

• A group of men targeted Syrian businesses and properties in Kayseri on Sunday, with videos on social media showing a grocery store being set on fire

Istanbul: Turkish authorities said Tuesday they had detained over 470 people after anti-Syrian riots in several cities sparked by accusations that a Syrian man had harassed a child.
“474 people were detained after the provocative actions” carried out against Syrians in Turkiye, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X.
Tensions escalated from Sunday following violence in a central Anatolian city after a Syrian man was accused of harassing a child.
A group of men targeted Syrian businesses and properties in Kayseri on Sunday, with videos on social media showing a grocery store being set on fire.
In one of the videos a Turkish man was heard shouting: “We don’t want any more Syrians! We don’t want any more foreigners.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday accused the opposition of stoking tensions while condemning the latest bout of violence against the Syrians as “unacceptable.”
But the violence spread to several other cities late on Monday including Istanbul and authorities have often called for calm.
Turkish police boosted security around the Syrian consulate in Istanbul, deploying an armored truck and patrolling the vicinity, according to an AFP journalist.