Four police assaulted at pro-Kurd rally in Berlin

Four police officers were assaulted and three people arrested at a pro-Kurd protest in Berlin on Saturday demonstrating against Turkey's military offensive in Syria. Thousands of people marched amid a heavy police presence under the banner "Together against Turkish attacks in Afrin", referring to the region in northern Syria where Turkey is waging a campaign against a Syrian Kurd militia. Organisers, including NGO's, Kurdish groups and some political parties, said 30,000 people took part, but police estimated "several thousand" and said overall the march passed "without disorder". Ankara launched the offensive in January against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which is allied with US forces against the Islamic State (IS) group. Ankara views the YPG as a terror group, and the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state for more than three decades. It is banned in Turkey and the US and European Union consider it a terror group.