New protests in Iraqi Kurdistan as residents seethe at authorities
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq: Demonstrators irate at the authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan took to the streets for a fifth day Friday, demanding the release of more than 200 protesters detained over violent rallies that have roiled the region.
Furious locals have torched the offices of the autonomous region’s main political parties in a string of towns since Monday as ire boiled over at the calamitous fallout from an independence referendum.
September’s overwhelming vote in favour of breaking away drew stinging reprisals from the central government that have battered Iraqi Kurdistan’s already flagging economy and fired anger over official graft.
“Down with the government of the corrupt, no to corruption!” protesters in the town of Shamshamal, some 70 kilometres south of the region’s second city Sulaimaniyah, chanted.
Protesters gathered in the town of Rania to demand that the “killers have to be brought to justice” after five demonstrators were shot dead there by security forces on Tuesday.
In Sulaimaniyah itself, police shot in the air and fired tear gas to disperse dozens of protesters calling for the release of those detained over the rallies.
Some 200 people have been arrested in the city alone since the protests began, while dozens have been held in other towns, activists from the Goran political party said. — AFP