Fighting Breaks Out at Turkish President’s Speech in New York<br />A police official, who spoke about the investigation on the condition of anonymity, said it appeared the fight had been instigated<br />by competing protesters, not by Mr. Erdogan’s security forces, who have a history of violent run-ins in the United States.<br />Halil Demir, a Turkish-American who works for a humanitarian organization, said he had been standing near the back<br />of the room when three protesters stood up in rapid succession: a young man, a young woman and a middle-aged man.<br />Seconds, really." Mr. Demir said he later saw the man on the floor, handcuffed, outside the ballroom where<br />Mr. Erdogan was speaking at the invitation of the Turkish American National Steering Committee.<br />In the middle of Mr. Erdogan’s speech, delivered in Turkish, a man — one of a handful of protesters — screamed in English: "You’re a terrorist.<br />In May, during Mr. Erdogan’s last official visit to the United States, members of his security team<br />attacked a group of peaceful protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington.<br />In 2011, the security forces took part in a fight at the United Nations headquarters in New York that sent at least one officer to the hospital.<br />The New York Police Department said about five protesters were "briefly detained." No arrests were made, and no injuries were reported.
