6 injured in stabbing attack at Kurdish demonstration in Belgium

Six people were injured, two of them critically, in a stabbing attack during a Kurdish demonstration in the Belgian city of Antwerp, according to officials.

The attack occurred Thursday evening as the protest was dispersing near the Opera House in Antwerp, in northern Belgium. Police said all six victims were hospitalized and that four people were arrested at the scene.

Belgian police said the demonstration had been peaceful before a group of men attacked participants with knives. Authorities have opened an investigation for attempted murder and said the case is not being treated as terrorism, according to information reported by Agence France-Presse.

The protest was organized by members of Belgium’s Kurdish community to denounce violence targeting Kurds in northeastern Syria, a region that has seen years of fighting involving Turkish forces, Kurdish militias, and Islamist groups.

NavBel, the council representing Kurdish communities in Belgium, said the attackers had infiltrated the demonstration and began stabbing participants “without distinction” as the gathering broke up. The group said families, women, and children had been present at the rally.

Video from the scene showed police arresting a person carrying what appeared to be a flag of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, an outlawed Kurdish militant organization designated as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union, and Turkey.

Police have not said whether the individual was involved in the stabbings, and the motive for the attack remains unclear. Authorities said the number of assailants and their motivations are still under investigation.