{"id":40018,"date":"2022-04-25T13:57:17","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T12:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sheffieldwire.co.uk\/?p=40018"},"modified":"2022-04-25T13:57:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T12:57:17","slug":"police-violence-hits-protest-in-sheffield-city-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2022\/04\/25\/police-violence-hits-protest-in-sheffield-city-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"Police and demonstrators clash during protest in Sheffield city centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police have been accused of violence towards protestors during a demonstration by the Kurdish community in Sheffield city centre on Sunday, when police reportedly \u201churled people to the ground and hit them around their heads.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Around a hundred people from Sheffield\u2019s Kurdish community and the South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG) gathered outside Sheffield Town Hall to stand in solidarity with Kurdish fighters in Northern Iraq where Turkish forces recently launched a military offensive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the demonstrators, that included families and young children, men and a woman were reportedly pepper sprayed and had flags forcibly confiscated. One person, who was delivering a speech at the protest was detained by police but later released without charge.<\/span><\/p>\n

John Grayson, one of the founders of SYMAAG and researcher for the group who was at the demonstration said: “One guy was hurled to the ground right in front of me and just missed a small child. They were using batons and wading into the crowd, they were certainly menacing and violent. They all had pepper sprays which they started to use. There was a lot of use of pepper spray by police.<\/p>\n

“A woman who had been heavily pepper sprayed was violently sick at the scene and there were another two men who were really heavily pepper sprayed, they received treatment, not from medics but from friends.<\/p>\n