Hundreds in Barcelona protest Turkey offensive against Syrian Kurds

Hundreds of people turned out in central Barcelona on Thursday evening to protest the military offensive launched by Turkey against Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria.

Some 400 protestors gathered in support of the Kurdish population on the Passeig de Gràcia boulevard in the center of the Catalan capital, according to local police estimates.

The Turkish military, along with their Syrian rebel allies, launched an attack on Kurdish forces on Wednesday, aiming to create a 32km wide "safe zone" in the area.

Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the military operation was to drive back members of a Syrian Kurdish militia called the People's Protection Units (YPG). 

Erdogan says that the YPG is part of a group that Turkey, the US and the EU consider a terrorist organization fighting for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey, which the YPG denies.

The Turkish offensive became possible after US troops withdrew from the area occupied by the Kurds, who had been helping the Americans to fight Islamic State there.

The protestors, who marched to Turkey's consulate in Barcelona, called for the international community to intervene to stop what they fear is part of a genocide of the Kurds.