Kurdistan protests more unrest than uprising
Parts of Iraqi Kurdistan are witnessing turmoil as people living primarily around Sulaimaniyah are demonstrating against the Kurdistan Regional Government, but what's behind the turbulence?
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Twenty-six years after what Kurds call the “Raperin” (Uprising) occurred in the town of Ranya in northern Iraq, which pitted the Kurds against the Iraqi Baath regime, gunshots are once again being heard in the region. This time, however, the targets are different. This time, Kurds are attacking other Kurds. Street protests that were started by civil servants whose salaries have not been paid for months erupted in Sulaimaniyah Dec. 18 and spread like fire to many towns including Ranya.
Photographs spread of Kurdish people demonstrating for their salaries but also occasionally shouting “freedom for Kirkuk.” In Koye, a town close to the Kurdish capital city of Erbil, security forces intervened against protesters in front of government offices, but demonstrators managed to set part of a building on fire. Demonstrators then set fire to the premises of Gorran, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Kurdistan Islamic Union and the Kurdistan Islamic Union, as well as other official buildings. Similar incidents were reported in other Kurdish towns.
Street protests spread to Halepce, Kifri, Ranya, Pencewin and their peripheries. At Ranya, security forces intervened forcibly. The Turkish media reported that five people were killed and 93 were wounded.
The demonstrators don’t appear to be organized. That makes manipulation of the popular reactions rather easy.
