Several Turkish diplomats were physically restrained by U.S. Secret Service agents when they tried to enter a tent holding President Obama’s limo and could not understand yelled orders to stop.

The fracas Tuesday night happened just outside the New York hotel where Obama was speaking at former President Bill Clinton’s Clinton Global Initiative meeting.

As Clinton was walking Obama out to his limo, a small horde of agents and police got into a shouting match with some people at one corner of the tent where the presidential limo was waiting.

“A foreign delegation got confused and were trying to enter the president's departure tent and didn't understand the verbal instructions being given,” Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said.
“They had to be physically restrained."

Donovan said he did not think the diplomats, identified as Turkish by White House pool reporter Jon Ward of the Washington Times, made it into the tent. They were not detained.

"Our feeling is the incident was exacerbated by a language barrier,” Donovan added.