Kurdish protesters scuffle with police in Iraqi Kurdistan

[SocalDinar]

Kurdish protesters scuffle with police in Iraqi Kurdistan Posted on October 9, 2015by Editorial Staff in People, Politics

Kurdish protesters in Sulaimani, iraqi kurdistan, Oct. 8, 2015. Photo: NRT

SULAIMANI, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— Kurdish protesters hurled stones and scuffled with riot police in the second largest city in autonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq’s north on Thursday, in the most intense show of discontent since an economic crisis hit the region.

Teachers, hospital workers and other public sector employees have taken to the streets and gone on strike for a week, demanding their salaries from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which is three months in arrears.

Thursday’s protest focused on a five-star hotel in the center of Sulaimani, where political parties were meeting to resolve a deadlock over the presidency that has compounded the economic crisis.

 

Massoud Barzani’s mandate as president expired on Aug. 20 but rival factions have yet to agree on the terms to extend his tenure, and many Kurds accuse their leaders of using or even creating problems for leverage.

“Instead of resolving the crisis they have deepened it,” said Ari Ahmed, the headmaster of a secondary school in Sulaimani. “Only ordinary people are suffering in this political game.”

KDP leader Massoud Barzani has led Kurdistan region as president from 2005 for two executive terms and his last term was extended in 2013 by ruling KDP and PUK for two more years on the condition that he can no longer run as president.

Iraqi Kurdistan parliament speaker, Yousif Mohammed Sadiq said last August “Extending Barzani term is against the laws in Kurdistan. Law No. 19 passed in 2013 … clearly says the president’s term ends on Aug. 19 and cannot be extended,” Sadiq added.

The demonstrations threaten to undermine stability in the region at a time when it is at war with Islamic State militants.

The economic crisis began in early 2014 when Baghdad slashed funds to the region, and has been exacerbated by the conflict with Islamic State and a drop in oil prices that has pushed the region to the verge of bankruptcy.

“The crises must not be mixed up with political matters that will take Kurdistan in an unstable direction,” the region’s deputy prime minister, Qubad Talabani, said at a meeting with the teacher’s union in Sulaimani, which has backed the protests.

Thousands of young Kurds have left the region, heading to Europe as part of a larger exodus of people from the Middle East.

The last serious civil unrest in the region was in 2011, when Kurds protested against corruption and nepotism.

Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, Reuters | Ekurd.net

 

http://ekurd.net/iraqi-kurdish-protesters-scuffle-police-2015-10-09

[blueskyline]

Thank You Yota . So it appears that Baghdad's plan is to withhold their 17% to cause discontent. Leading the Kurds to give Baghdad what they want ? Sure looks like

[gymrat76541]

Normally I am against protestors!

 

BUT

 

In this case, Yeah I want every Iraqi to hit the streets!

[10 YEARS LATER]

If THE GOI isn't careful, todays protestors are going to be tomorrows full blown rioters if they don't get their heads outta their A$$$ES and get this country moving

[SocalDinar]

Protester killed in unrest in Iraq's Kurdistan region

Source: Reuters - Fri, 9 Oct 2015 21:02 GMT

Author: Reuters

 

ERBIL, Iraq, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Protesters torched an office of the main political party in Iraq's Kurdish north on Friday after at least one demonstrator was killed in the worst unrest the region has seen for several years.

Five other people were wounded in the city of Qaladize following a week of strikes and demonstrations in Kurdistan that threaten to destabilise the autonomous region while it is at war with Islamic State militants.

In other towns and cities across the region, political parties tightened security around their offices to avert attacks from rivals.

The protests grew out of public anger at an economic crisis that has left many Kurds struggling to get by, but have become wound up in a power struggle between the region's political parties.

Friday's demonstration turned violent when protesters changed their planned course and headed towards the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Qaladize throwing stones, officials said.

In the ensuing confrontation, a young man was shot dead.

"The firing came from the KDP," said Hawsar Wshyar Mohammed Amin, a member of the Sulaimaniyah provincial council from former opposition party Gorran.

But Hamid Qaladizei, a member of the KDP branch in the city, denied the bullets had been fired from there, and said it was not to blame for the man's death.

"We acted very responsibly," Qaladizei said. "There are people behind these protesters who are provoking them. The number of police is insufficient to protect us and control the situation."

The KDP, Gorran and three of the region's other parties have been wrangling over the terms of an extension for Massoud Barzani's presidency since it expired on Aug. 20.

The stalemate has polarised Kurdish politics and compounded an economic crisis that began in early 2014 when Baghdad slashed funds to the region. A drop in oil prices that has pushed the region to the verge of bankruptcy.

In a statement late on Friday, Barzani called for calm and said those responsible for the disturbances in Qaladize would be held accountable.

The last serious bout of unrest in the region was in 2011, when Kurds protested against corruption and nepotism, inspired by popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. (Reporting by Isabel Coles; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Andrew Heavens)

 

http://www.trust.org/item/20151009182942-g25ib/

[blueskyline]

Thank Socal

[sandfly]

THE KURDS NEEDS TO DO THERE PART. SO THEY ALL CAN MOVE AHEAD

[Officiallytook]

If the people would of protested a lot sooner then would have been over years ago