Police in Turkey detained 76 people in connection with attacks on homes and businesses believed to be owned by Syrians after a Turkish teenager was killed in a fight with a group of refugees from Syria on Thursday.
Turkey is grappling with a battered economy and high unemployment, is home to around 4 million mostly Syrian refugees.
A hundreds-strong mob took to the streets of the capital Ankara’s Altindag neighbourhood late on Wednesday, throwing stones at Syrian refugees’ homes, ransacking some shops, and chanting anti-Syrian slogans, local media reports said.
The violence, which comes as sentiment against Syrian and Afghan refugees is running high, followed the stabbing death of 18-year-old Emirhan Yalcin in the same neighbourhood earlier in the day.
Ankara police said 76 suspects were taken into custody on Thursday, suspected of either involvement in the attacks or of sharing provocative social media postings that allegedly helped stoke the violence. At least 38 of the suspects had prior criminal records, police said.
There is public concern that the country may be faced with a fresh refugee influx from Afghanistan, where the Taliban have been making gains as US and NATO troops withdraw. Images on social media showed dozens of shouting men breaking through police cordons and then attacking cars and shops believed to be owned by Syrian families.
They smashed windows with stones and crowbars and tore down the metal grill of one store before breaking in and ransacking its shelves.
Images showed police firing tear gas to disperse the crowds as the violence raged late into the night.
One showed a young man trying to break into the apartment of a building by dislodging the metal wiring of its ground floor window.
Turkish Red Crescent chief Kerem Kinik tweeted an image of a child with streams of blood running down their face who he said had been hurt in the unrest.
“When did stoning houses at night become part of our tradition?” Kinik asked.
“Many refugees contacted us. They are worried for the safety of their children. They are scared.”
