WASHINGTON, March 31 (Sputnik) – A female American protester was forcefully handled by a member of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s personal security detail outside a public event in Washington, DC, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the protest.
“They didn’t want us to be protesting them, so they started to pull at us. They dragged me,” protester Deniz Lohja told Sputnik.
As she was being pulled by Erdogan’s security, the guards were calling her “whore” and cursing in Turkish. Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department officers stepped between the Turkish security guard and the protester.
Lohja and other protesters were carrying a provocative sign threatening that Erdogan “will be overthrown,” which Turkish security officials confiscated.
“What they told me is, if you were in Turkey, you know what would happen to you. The implication is, that if I went to jail, I knew what would happen to me as a woman,” Lohja said referring to the guards as “security thugs.”
Lohja, who identified herself as an American of Turkish descent, claimed she has previously attempted to press charges against Erdogan’s security detail after a prior altercation at a protest, but was unable because of the guards’ diplomatic immunity.
Joe Clapper, facility manager at the site of the protest, informed Sputnik that there were approximately 100 US security officials, including State Department police, Secret Service and Metropolitan police, as well as between 75 to 100 Turkish security guards.
Erdogan is currently in Washington, DC to attend the Nuclear Security Summit. On Thursday, he made a speech at the Brookings Institute, which became a magnet for protesters and Erdogan supporters alike, who rallied for more than three hours in front of the event.
