About 60 people participated in a mass brawl between Turks and Kurds in the city of Herne in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, police in Bochum said, RIA Novosti reported.

According to police, the clashes occurred at around 10 p.m. on Monday. Participants in the fight were armed with batons and slats, some had knives. One person received minor injuries and was taken to hospital. Arriving at the scene, the police stopped the fight with pepper spray and partially seized the fighting tools. The police identified several participants in the fight, but there were no detentions.

In this regard, we again urge our Kurdish and Turkish fellow citizens not to express their emotions through provocations, aggression and certainly not violence, police noted in a statement.

The police noted that law enforcement officers will continue to closely monitor the development of the situation in the city.

Last week, five people were injured in riots during a Kurdish protest in Herne. Protesters defeated a Turkish cafe. Police suggest that there is a connection between these incidents.

Relations between the communities escalated after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced on October 9 that Operation Source of Peace was launched in northern Syria against the Kurdistan Workers Party and ISIS banned in Turkey. Syrian authorities have repeatedly condemned the occupation policy of Turkey in northern Syria. Russia stated that Turkey needs to avoid actions that could stand in the way of resolving the Syrian conflict, which has been ongoing since 2011.

On Thursday, the US and Turkey said they agreed to suspend Turkey’s military operation for 120 hours and withdraw Kurdish forces from the 30-kilometer buffer zone on the Turkish-Syrian border, which Ankara intends to control independently.