'Afrin is becoming our Vietnam': Pro-Kurdish protesters denouncing Turkey’s Syria campaign clash with German police

Demonstrators protesting against the "Olive Branch" operation against the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin were sprayed with pepper spray by the German police.

Nearly 150 people protested in an unannounced rally, one of several Kurdish demonstrations in Germany over the weekend, and left "a number of people suffering injuries" federal police reported to AFP.

Protesters holding banners that read "Afrin is becoming our Vietnam - we will defeat fascism" were shared on social media.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to "purge" Kurdish militia from the town.

Last month, Ankara launched Operation Olive Branch in the northern Syrian region, with war monitors estimating the death toll at 311.

Ankara is fiercely opposed to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which is dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) - considered by the Turkish government to be a terrorist group.

The 50,000-strong YPG has allied with the US in eradicating the Islamic State group from northern Syria and have been armed by the US since May 2017.

Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is deemed a terrorist group by the US, the EU and Turkey.

The Syrian regime has chosen to ally itself with the Kurdish YPG in its fight against Turkey in Afrin, despite being at odds elsewhere in Syria.