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Scores detained during protests in Iraq's
Kurdistan
14.8.2006
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Sulaimaniyah,
Kurdistan-Iraq, August 14, -- Kurdish security
forces have detained about 90 people during a week
of street protests in Kurdistan (northern Iraq),
several which turned violent, a regional interior
ministry spokesman said on Monday.
A media rights group said nine reporters were among
those detained during the demonstrations for
improved public services in Kurdistan, saying the
security forces blamed the media for helping to
orchestrate the protests.
"Last week saw a lot of violations against
journalists while they were doing their jobs," the
Baghdad-based Journalistic Freedom Observatory said.
Five of the journalists were held during a march of
around 1,000 people in Kurdistan's main city
Sulaimaniyah on Sunday, it said.
Most of the detained journalists had since been
released but two were still being held.
Semi-autonomous Kurdistan has been peaceful compared
with the rest of Iraq, where sectarian and insurgent
violence claims on average 100 lives every day. But
it is not without tension.
Thousands of people have taken to the streets during
the past week to demand improved public services
such as electricity supplies and several have turned
violent.
Last Monday, one person was shot dead and 20 people
were hurt in clashes with security forces during a
march of 2,000 people in Derbendikhan, south of
Sulaimaniyah, hospital sources said. They said that
another nine were injured on Wednesday during a
protest in Kalar, which lies further to the south.
Other sources reported that police chief 'Lokman
Sabir' of Kalar announced today, Monday, the arrest
of one of the Kurdish security men (Asayish) after
the lawsuit lifted against him by the family of a
young man who was killed last Wednesday during a
demonstration organized by a number of people
calling for improving services in Kalar.
Poor basic services have been a source of deep
frustration among people across Iraq since U.S.-led
forces invaded to oust Saddam Hussein more than
three years ago.
Reuters | Agencies
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