The mayor of Brussels Yvan Mayeur issued a temporary ban on public gatherings near a hotel in Brussels where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will stay while he attends Thursday’s NATO summit.
"We noticed that the Turkish protests became violent lately. An example of this is the unrest that broke out at the [Turkish] embassy,” Mayeur told RTBF, referring to a brawl between pro- and anti-Erdogan activists during voting in the Turkish constitutional referendum in March.
Mayeur also cited violence between protesters and Erdogan’s bodyguards while the Turkish president was in Washington last week, Politico reported.
A rally organized by Erdogan supporters on Wednesday outside the Brussels hotel, in Place Stéphanie, was banned.
