12 Turkish Security Officials Charged After Bloody Attack On Protesters

WASHINGTON, DC — The Metropolitan Police Department announced criminal charges Thursday against 12 Turkish security personnel accused of assaulting American citizens who were protesting President Erdoğan outside the nation's embassy in D.C. last month.

The alarming video (embedded below) shows men in suits kicking and punching protesters, who cowered on the ground as blows rained down upon them — all while D.C. police officers stood by separating people but largely refraining from arresting the people who carried out the assaults. Critics of the Turkish president claim that his personal security team — and perhaps even Erdoğan himself — ordered the attack.

“You had peaceful demonstrators that were physically assaulted in the District of Columbia,” Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham said at a press conference. “The message to folks that are going to come to our city, either from another state or another country, is that’s not going to be tolerated in Washington, D.C.”

Police arrested two men involved in the attack who lived in the United States.

However, authorities will almost certainly never arrest most of the men named in the warrants, as they are the personal security team of a foreign president. In order to be arrested, they would have to attempt to enter the United States again.

The attacks happened outside the Turkish ambassador's residence at 2500 Massachusetts Ave. NW as Erdoğan met with President Donald Trump at the White House. A total of nine people were hurt in the scuffle, and two were arrested, according to reports.

Trump called Erdoğan a strong ally and vital partner in the war on terrorism. However, Erdoğan is critical of the U.S.'s support for the Kurds in Syria, as well as the fact that a cleric he blames for last year's failed coup resides in the United States.

Police identified the suspects by comparing videos to passport and visa photos. The department is still investigating some suspects who have not been identified, so more charges could be coming.

“In the United States, and particularly in the District of Columbia, we hold our ability to peacefully protest as a sacred right,” Newsham said during the press conference. “It’s just something we’re not going to tolerate. We have dignitaries that are in and out of this city on a daily basis. Rarely have I seen, in my almost 28 years of policing, the type of thing that I saw in Sheridan Circle on that particular day.”

#Erdoğan'ın korumaları kavgaya karıştı https://t.co/gsi1iQ68Ye #amerikaninsesi pic.twitter.com/Jv3g5E7AVA
— Amerika'nın Sesi (@VOATurkish) May 17, 2017

Photo by Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images