From Colum Lynch, Turtle Bay:  Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s security detail got into a violent brawl on Friday with U.N. security guards outside the General Assembly hall, leaving at least two U.N. personnel injured , including one who was taken to the hospital, possibly with broken ribs, according to U.N. diplomats and officials.

The altercation occurred as Erdogan, who was at a meeting on a floor above the U.N. General Assembly entrance, learned that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was about to begin his historic speech announcing his bid to become a U.N. member state.

The Turkish leader tried to rush to get into the U.N. chamber to take his seat.

Erdogan and his entourage, however, were stopped at an exit near the meeting room, and told they could not enter the hall from that exit. The Turkish guards demanded that their president be allowed to pass, and allegedly pushed the U.N. security guards. The U.N. guards pushed back, and the Turks apparently began swinging. One diplomat who was working on the floor two stories below said he could hear the fighting. . . . (photo: Reuters)

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