Bloody protests rock Iraqi Kurdistan

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http://www.presstv.com/detail/166107.html


Bloody protests rock Iraqi Kurdistan

Press TV, 20 February 2011


Violence has again rocked the streets of the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah as Kurdish demonstrators continue to demand the ouster of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Following a peaceful demonstration Saturday afternoon, protesters began burning tires on the street in front of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) headquarters and pelting rocks at military and police forces, a Press TV correspondent reported.

They said the move was in retaliation for those killed and injured during Thursday's protest.

Based on unofficial reports and eyewitnesses, demonstrations that began Thursday have so far left four dead and around 70 injured.

The report adds that some 5,000 KDP military forces were deployed on the streets of Sulaymaniyah over the past two days.

Following popular demonstrations in Iraqi Kurdistan over poverty and unemployment as well as financial and administrative corruption, Sulaymaniyah University students also joined the protests on Saturday.

As shots rang out on streets in the background during a brief talk with the Press TV reporter, Sulaymaniyah Police Chief Amed Salar claimed he had no idea who was shooting and why.

“I have no information, I don't know what is going on, I don't have any idea,” Salar told our correspondent.

Riot police were called in to stop the unrest. In ensuing clashes, 10 were arrested and 15 injured, including one journalist that was shot in the foot and at least two more that were beaten by police.

“I was covering the protests when security forces attacked me, they beat me with baton and never asked who I was. I have an ID card and I said I am working for Payam TV channel,” journalist Wrya Hussein told Press TV.

Ruling parties have pointed the finger at the leading opposition party Goran for inciting unrest after they released a statement last month calling for the dissolution of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

But the Goran Party says their members have had no role in recent demonstrations. Although the party supports the right of people to protest, it says that it does not, in any way, condone violence used by protesters over the past three days.

Students at the University of Sulaymaniyah say they will continue demonstrations until the KDP forces leave the city and they receive answers from the government about Thursday's shootings.


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related links:


Iraqi forces shoot Sulaymanieh students

Security forces have opened fire on students in the Iraqi University of Sulaymanieh after they joined popular protests in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

Press TV, 19 February 2011

http://www.presstv.com/detail/166012.html



[video] 4 Kurdish protesters killed in N Iraq

A peaceful protest in northern Iraq against the local government of Iraqi Kurdistan President Masud Barzani has ended in violence with 4 dead and over 50 injured.

Press TV, 18 February 2011

http://www.presstv.com/detail/165817.html


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from the archives:


Riding to War on a Poison Cloud
How the forgotten city of Halabja became the launch pad for war on Iraq

by Sharat G. Lin, Global Research, 12 March 2008

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8311



Iraqi Kurds smash Halabja Monument in rage against U.S.-backed government

by Robert F. Worth, New York Times, 17 March 2006

http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20060317101916981


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[TonyGosling]

Kurdish unrest continues in Iraq
From Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN - March 6, 2011
Thousands of Kurdish demonstrators take part in protests Friday in Sulaimaniya.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/03/06/iraq.kurdistan.protests/
(CNN) -- Masked attackers burned tents of protesters overnight in the main city of Iraq's Kurdistan region, police said Sunday.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered later in the day in Sulaimaniya for another protest against Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional government, witnesses told CNN.
The unrest in northern Iraq that erupted three weeks ago has killed five people and injured 158 so far, the head of the emergency health department, Dr. Nozad Ahmed, said.
According to police officials, several empty tents erected by protesters at Bardagi-Sara central square of Sulaimaniya were set on fire before dawn. The attack was under investigation, the police officials said.
Some protesters blamed the attack on Kurdish security forces, who denied any involvement.
Separately, the head of an independent Kurdish radio station said Sunday that gunmen attacked the broadcast facility and destroyed or stole equipment overnight.
Azad Othman, the head of Dank Radio, told CNN that the attackers stormed the station in Kalar, a town 150 kilometers south of Sulaimaniya. Security officials in Sulaimaniya said they were investigating.
It was the second attack on an independent broadcaster in Kurdistan in the past two weeks. On February 20, masked gunmen attacked and burned NRT TV, wounding a guard, according to police officials and the broadcast company.
NRT, the first independent television station in northern Iraq, started broadcasting on February 17, and was the only station to air footage of shots fired at demonstrators on the first day of the protests, according to a company statement.
Protesters in the Kurdish region, mostly in Sulaimaniya, are demanding political reforms from Barzani's regional government and the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party. Like protests in other areas of Iraq, the demonstrators also complain of corruption, unemployment and poor public services.
On Thursday, Barzani gave a televised address in which he called on the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament to study the possibility of holding early general elections in the region. The previous regional election took place July 2009, with the next one currently scheduled for 2013.
Barzani expressed his admiration for the young people of Kurdistan for displaying political maturity in airing their demands through peaceful demonstrations. But he urged them to avoid resorting to violence, which he said would tarnish the image of the Kurdistan region.
Previously, he blamed the protests on a "very small group of people determined to undermine the stability of the region."

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http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/10/288334/kurdistan-region-tv-sta tion-bombed-after-political-insult-on-live-show/


Kurdistan Region TV station bombed after political insult on live show

Dale McEwan, Press TV, 10 February 2013


A bomb blast has shaken staff members at a TV station in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region. The assault followed insults against Kurdistan's ruling family by a member of the public on one of the station’s live shows. Dale McEwan has this report from Arbil in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.


The Kurdistan Region’s Nalia Radio and Television - NRT - is reeling following a bomb attack on Saturday night. The small device on NRT’s roof did not claim any casualties but was enough to send a warning. The previous day a member of the public phoned in to a live show and blasted Kurdistan’s ruling Barzani family. NRT, based in Kurdistan’s Sulaymaniyah city, has called on Kurdistan’s semi-autonomous government for protection.

Critics say the member of the public disrespected the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s historical leader Mustafa Barzani and Kurdistan’s current President Massoud Barzani. The caller asked: “Is it possible in a year to use $1.7m for repairing electricity and $343m for the Barzani grave?” The caller then used an obscenity towards the Barzanis before NRT disconnected the call. But Kurdistan Democratic Party supporters later protested outside NRT's office before the bomb attack. Pro-NRT crowds rallied outside the office after the bomb explosion.

Human Rights Watch has issued a statement commenting generally on Kurdistan’s freedom of speech: “These are dark days for freedom of expression in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region. Instead of ensuring the justice system investigates high-level corruption, the Kurdistan Regional Government is ignoring its own laws to protect free speech and assembly, and using ‘laws’ that are not in force to silence dissent.”

NRT’s three-storey office was torched in February 2011. NRT’s owner had received threats from politicians and was asked to stop broadcasting. NRT was the first independent satellite broadcaster in Iraqi Kurdistan.

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