Kurds clash with Salafists in Hamburg, 23 injured

Police in the north German city of Hamburg say 23 people were injured overnight in clashes between Kurdish protesters and members of a hardline Islamic movement.

Police spokeswoman Karina Sadowsky said Wednesday that the clashes happened after hundreds of Kurds held a protest against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militant group. Similar protests took place throughout Europe on Tuesday by Kurds seeking to draw attention to Islamic State's onslaught against the Kurdish town of Kobane in northern Syria.

The violence erupted after a standoff between the protesters and members of a nearby mosque associated with the Salafist movement. Salafism is a strict interpretation of Islam, whose adherents are closely monitored by German security services.

Sadowsky says police used water cannons to break up the protest and arrested 22 people.