Some 25,000 followers of the Alevi branch of Islam and ethnic Kurds took to the streets of the western German city of Cologne on Saturday to protest the policies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Many were holding flags depicting Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Rights groups say the recent crackdown in Turkey has spread from targeting followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Erdogan for being behind a failed coup in July, to other opposition circles, including the media and Kurdish groups.
More than 100 journalists are in jail, as are 10 opposition members of parliament.
On the sidelines of the event there were clashes with police. A man belonging to a group of Kurds set off a firework and the group began attacking the police using bottles and rocks, injuring one police officer, a police spokesman said.
The Alevis are estimated to be the second-largest religious group in Turkey after the majority Sunnis, with 20 million followers.
The main speaker at Saturday's protest was expected to be the chairman of the German Journalists' Association (DJV), Frank Ueberall.
Some 6,500 Kurds had already launched a street protest against Erdogan's arrest of leading Kurdish politicians the previous Saturday. They waved banners with slogans like "Terrorist Erdogan" and "Erdogan Fascist."
