Security staff carried out a bizarre offensive against protesters calling president Recep Tayyip Erdogan a terrorist by trying to shout down their chants and destroying their placards.
The underfire Turkish leader is in Washington to attend a Nuclear Security Summit amid claims of human rights abuses and rumors of an official snub by US president Barack Obama.
Following demands by Amnesty International for the Turkish government to address human rights violations against its Kurdish population, Erdogan’s motorcade was met by angry protesters in the US capital.
Screaming “Terrorist Erdogan” and displaying homemade signs, a group of protesters are approached by members of the Turkish president’s security detail, who then proceed to comically yell and drown out the negative chants.
Footage of the incident also shows security personnel threatening the anti-Erdogan demonstrators and ripping up protest banners.
Erdogan’s government has been criticized for a clampdown on free speech, a policy which could see two prominent journalists jailed for reporting on the movement of weapons into Syria by Turkey’s national intelligence service.
Last week the trial of Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul was postponed until April 1.
The pair face charges related to revealing state secrets, espionage and aiding terrorists with regard to a tape purporting to show Turkish armed forces delivering arms into Syria. Erdogan has previously claimed the weapons were for Turkmen forces fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Syrian President Bashar Assad’s armies.
“The person who published this story as an exclusive story will, I believe, pay a high price for this. I will not leave him be,” Erdogan is quoted as saying by CNN.
“So far Turkey has faced very little global criticism on this issue, as the international community has focused more on enlisting Turkey’s help in the refugee crisis,” the group said in a statement.
“While that remains a critical issue, these continued human rights violations cannot be overshadowed.”
The organization are planning a protest outside the Brookings Institution on Thursday, where the Turkish president is expected to make a speech.