Swiss Use Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets to Break Up Kurdish Rally

Zurich police used tear gas and rubber bullets to try to break up a group of around 100 Kurdish activists holding an unauthorized demonstration outside the Turkish consulate in Switzerland's financial capital on Monday.

Police said the crowd threw stones, flags and other objects at the building, forcing authorities to seal off the area. One person was detained in the incident, which followed a largely peaceful march by demonstrators through downtown Zurich in the morning.

Police said the demonstrators were protesting against conditions in Turkey.

At least nine civilians and 16 rebel fighters died when security forces battled militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, the army and the region's main political party said on Monday.