Sulaimani residents commemorate victims of 2011 anti-KRG protests in Iraqi Kurdistan
Kurdish riot police officers carry the body of a Kurdish young protester Rezhwan in front of the headquarters of Massoud Barzani’s KDP political party in Sulaimani, Iraqi Kurdistan, February 17, 2011. Photo: AP
SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Seven years ago, residents of Sulaimani city protested against corruption in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, calling on the government to reform the Region’s laws.
The demonstrators gathered on Salim Street on February 17, 2011 and marched towards the Public Garden where the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) office is located. As the protesters passed by the KDP office, there was a confrontation between the demonstrators and guards at the KDP office.
The protesters had been attempting to storm the local offices of the KDP of Massoud Barzani when KDP security forces fired into the air in a bid to disperse the crowd.
One person killed and a number of others were injured.
According to the guards, demonstrators began throwing stones at them, but the protestors countered that it was the guards who shot first.
People gathered in Sara Square the next day, denouncing the killing of the young protester by the KDP guards. People in the other parts of Sulaimani province also joined in the demonstrations.
In protests over the next three months, ten people were killed and more than 500 others were wounded by the security forces.
The father of Rezhwan, who was the first person killed during the protests, said that the authorities are still determined to suppress the freedom of civilians.
“They have jailed activists in Badinan in the same way as February 17,” said Haji Ali during a press conference at Rezhwan’s grave, referring to the detention of dozens of activists by the security forces in Duhok since January 27.
“The authorities are still those who turned the white roads of February 17th red with the blood of our sons and have turned the white days of this nation black with corruption and robbery,” he added.
“They have deepened their pockets by stealing the livelihoods of the people.”
From February 17, 2011 till middle April 2011, thousands of protesters gathered daily in Sulaimani and other parts of Iraqi Kurdistan against corruption and the lording over Kurdistan region by two main parties KDP and PUK. Kurdish protestors demand the ouster of the local Kurdistan government KRG, calling for improving services and living conditions and fighting corruption.
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