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| Iraq |
| Sulaimaniya protesters dispersed by water cannons |
| 2011-02-20 |
| SULAIMANIYA / Aswat al-Iraq: Security forces in Sulaimaniya dispersed protesters in the Kurdish city Saturday by using water cannons and shooting fire in the air, a local security source said. “The protesters, located about 500 meters away from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), were forced to withdraw to side roads after security forces used water cannons and shot fire in the air,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. A medic told Aswat al-Iraq that eight people, including a policeman, were wounded in the incidents. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Sulaimaniya to demand better living conditions, an end to corruption and political reforms. Unrest continued Friday in Sulaimaniya, where personnel from the security agencies, police and peshmerga (Kurdish forces) were intensively deployed to keep order and security and prevent a possible outbreak of violence. Protests and acts of violence sparked the concerns of the semi-autonomous Iraq Kurdistan region inhabitants that they might move to other areas. KDP deputy leader Nejervan Barzani had said on Friday that the politburos of the KDP and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the two main Kurdish parties, discussed during a meeting ways to unify stances regarding the incidents that broke out in Sulaimaniya and efforts to solve the problems. |
| Posted by:Steve White |