Turkish police detained 67 people on 1 July after a mob rampaged through the central city of Kayseri to attack Syrian businesses and property the night before, Arab News reported.

Videos on social media showed a group of men attacking a grocery store and setting it on fire. The mob gathered after rumors spread that a Syrian man had sexually abused his 5-year-old relative.

In one of the videos, a Turkish man yelled, “We don’t want any more Syrians! We don’t want any more foreigners.”

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the Syrian man was caught by Turkish citizens and turned over to the police.

He said the men comprising the mob had acted “illegally” and in a manner “that does not suit our human values,” as they damaged houses, shops, and cars of Syrians.

“Turkiye is a state of law and order. Our security forces continue their fight against all crimes and criminals today, as they did yesterday.”

Turkish officials said that the girl, her siblings, and her mother were placed under state protection where they would receive psychological support.

Some three million Syrians fled to Turkiye as refugees after the western-backed war on the government of Bashar al-Assad in 2011.

Turkiye played a crucial role in flooding Syria with weapons and fighters who joined extremist groups such as ISIS and the Nusra Front.

In the wake of the large influx of Syrians, Turkiye has seen several bouts of xenophobic violence erupt in recent years, often triggered by rumors spreading on social media and instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp.

During Turkiye’s 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections, both President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu promised mass deportations of Syrians as part of their platforms.

Kilicdaroglu, leader of the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP), used particularly xenophobic rhetoric during the campaign and lost by a narrow margin.