A large group gathered in İstanbul’s İkitelli neighborhood reportedly in reaction to the alleged abuse of a small girl, in a protest that led to looting, fights and the near lynching of Syrian refugees, the Sendika.org website reported.
Video footage of the incident circulated on Turkish social media in which a mob gets into fights in front of a local police station.
Some social media accounts claimed that one of the Syrians accused of being one of the alleged perpetrators of the abuse was killed.
Sendika.org also reported that looting occurred at the prompting of people who were not residents of the neighborhood.
The country’s largest city hosts a large community of Syrian refugees who fled their country after the outbreak of the civil war.
According to figures by the Refugees and Asylum Seekers Assistance and Solidarity Association (RASAS), over a half a million Syrians live in İstanbul.
