Several dozen Kurds have stormed the Dutch parliament building in The Hague, making their way inside the lobby following a spontaneous demonstration against Islamic State fighters attacking the Kurdish town of Kobani in Syria.
Several hundred protesters have been rallying in front of the parliament building on Monday night to draw attention to the situation in Kobani, where “a genocide [is] about to unfold,” one of the organizers said, as quoted by Reuters.
READ MORE:'Unite against ISIS!’ Kurds occupy London’s busiest Tube station
Up to 100 people carrying banners have managed to force their way inside the main hall of the building. However, they reportedly did not try to go any further through security, peacefully sitting on the floor instead.
A delegation of Kurdish protesters spoke with the president of the House of Representatives, Anouchka van Miltenburg, regarding the situation of Kurds in Kobani. The sit-in was over at 2:00 am local time, when the protesters left the building.
Photo shows Kurdish protesters forcing their way into Dutch parliament in The Hague pic.twitter.com/C0DHWxQVhV (@IvarLingen photo)
— Michael van Poppel (@mpoppel) October 6, 2014
Hundreds of police officers and riot squads were deployed to the scene, with helicopters reportedly heard flying overhead.
Koerden scanderen nu 'terrorist Erdogan', de Turkse president. pic.twitter.com/8I9UPThRzf
— Ivar Lingen (@IvarLingen) October 6, 2014
"The situation in Kobani is getting [out] of control,” one of the protesters said, according to Reuters. “IS has stormed the town and a lot of civilians are being killed. We want the West to do more to stop the situation in Syria."
De linie van tientallen agenten voor de Tweede Kamer. pic.twitter.com/zQXMkw6guT
— Ivar Lingen (@IvarLingen) October 6, 2014
Police formed a cordon in front of the building next to a larger group of protesters standing outside. The officers described the situation as "completely under control,” hln.be reports.
MP Sadet Karabulut, who has a Turkish-Kurdish background, thinks the action of the Kurds is "a cry for attention.”
"It's a signal they want to be heard by the Court and the international community," the publication quotes.
De linie van agenten voor de Tweede Kamer. pic.twitter.com/PVgVKcOHo1
— Ivar Lingen (@IvarLingen) October 6, 2014
Buiten schreeuwen Koerdische demonstranten leuzen. De sfeer is gemoedelijk. pic.twitter.com/yrhT51KI2g
— Alexander Bakker (@alexanderbakker) October 6, 2014
The Kurdish minority in the Netherlands took the streets of The Hague after the Islamic State advanced into the outskirts of the Syrian border town of Kobani on Monday, raising the black IS flag to be visible from across the Turkish border. Several thousand people were evacuated as IS advanced on the town, joining over 186,000 Kurds who have fled to Turkey over the years of violence.
READ MORE:2,000 evacuated as ISIS flag raised on outskirts of Kobani, Syria
Kurds in the Netherlands are of different nationalities but predominately hold Turkish citizenship. Tens of thousands of Kurds are believed to be residing there, according to Humanity in Action NGO. Meanwhile, the Turkish minority in the Netherlands is one of the largest in the country and totals almost 342,000 in the country with 16.8 million residents.