Calm Restored After Syria Soccer Riots

DAMASCUS, Syria - Two days of rioting that began with fights between fans of rival soccer teams left 15 people dead and more than 100 injured in Kurdish areas of northern Syria, Kurdish officials said Sunday, adding that calm had been restored in the city where the trouble began.

Fifteen people died in the violence, 13 of them in Qamishli, 450 miles northeast of Damascus, and two in Amouda village, 20 miles to the west, Faisal Youssef of the Democratic Progressive Kurdish Party in Syria said.

Youssef, who was in Qamishli, would not elaborate, but nine people were believed to have died in the initial soccer fights and the rest in rioting ignited during funerals for some of the dead.

Abdel Baki Youssef, another local Kurdish leader in Qamishli, said 15 people were confirmed dead and that Qamishli was calm on Sunday, but he said there may be "more martyrs" because he understood burning and looting was continuing in the Kurdish city of Hasakah and elsewhere.

His report of continuing rioting could not immediately be confirmed.

Abdel Baki Youssef, secretary of the Kurdish Yakiti Party, told The Associated Press by telephone from Qamishli that Syrian authorities had detained some 250 Kurds since Friday. Youssef is a common name, and it wasn't immediately clear if the two men were related.

In Brussels, Belgium, meanwhile, about 50 Kurdish demonstrators broke into the grounds of the Syrian Embassy on Saturday to protest the deaths in the soccer riots in northern Syria.

Shouting "Syria, terrorists!" the demonstrators climbed into the embassy garden and smashed windows. Some forced their way into the entry hall of the embassy, scattered pamphlets and damaged furniture before being removed by police.

They clashed with Belgian police, who detained most of them briefly, according to VRT television of Belgium. About a dozen remained in custody Sunday morning. Belgium has a large Kurdish community, most immigrants from Turkey.

Clashes broke out Friday between supporters of al-Jihad and Al-Fatwa soccer teams shortly before their Syrian championship match was to begin in a stadium in Qamishli. The game was canceled. On Saturday, hundreds of Kurds went on the rampage, vandalizing shops and state offices.

Faisal Youssef said calm had been restored in Qamishli following a meeting involving a Syrian government committee to investigate the trouble and representatives of Kurdish parties in Qamishli.

In a statement distributed to reporters, Faisal Youssef called on fellow Kurds to "maintain maximum self-restraint ..., not to be dragged into these harmful and useless acts and to halt their demonstrations."

He also called for solidarity among Arab and Kurdish Syrians and announced a three-day mourning period for the victims.

That Saturday's riot was led by Kurds makes it especially sensitive for the authorities. The government is concerned that the Kurdish minority could take its cue from the new found power of Kurds in neighboring Iraq (news - web sites) and agitate for greater recognition. Syrian President Bashar Assad recently joined Turkey in warning against a Kurdish state in northern Iraq.

Kurds make up about 1.5 million of Syria's 18.5 million population. Most live in the underdeveloped northeastern areas of Qamishli and Hasakah. The Syrian constitution does not mention Kurds.

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