Twitter accounts, including that of Amnesty International, have been hacked by a group claiming to support the Turkish government.

The hack resulted in the accounts sending tweets condemning "Nazi Germany" and "Nazi Holland" and spreading propaganda relating to a Turkish referendum that aims to give new sweeping powers to the president.

The tweets, which began with a swastika, linked to a YouTube video entitled: "Nazi Germany, Nazi Holland, see you April 16", the date of the Turkish referendum.

Other accounts hacked included ones belonging to Unicef USA, the Atlanta Police Department, French politician Alain Juppe, the UK's Department of Health, Die Welt, Forbes and Central Bedfordshire Council.

The European Parliament was also affected, but then tweeted: "Good morning. We briefly lost control of this account earlier, but everything is now back to normal."


A Twitter spokesperson said they had "quickly located the source which was limited to third party app. We removed its permissions immediately. No additional accounts are impacted".

Image: The Turkish flag was also used in the hack. Pic: @Atlanta_Police/Twitter

The attack cames as voters in the Netherlands were casting ballots in a parliamentary election.

The final days of campaigning were overshadowed by a diplomatic crisis between the Dutch and Turkish governments.

Over the weekend, police used water cannon, horses and dogs to break up the pro-Turkey demonstration attended by hundreds as some activists threw bottles and stones.

The protest came after two Turkish ministers were stopped from campaigning among the Turkish community in the Netherlands in favour of giving Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more powers in the referendum.

In response, Mr Erdogan has suspended diplomatic talks with the Netherlands and described the country's citizens as "Nazi remnants".