Protest Over Utilities Spirals into Violence

Dissatisfaction over inadequate water and electricity supplies led to a recent mass protest in the Kurdish town of Kalar, which left buildings burnt and some 30 people injured in clashes with police.

More than 2,000 residents, most of them in their twenties, marched down the streets of Kalar on September 7, demanding that basic public services be restored to an acceptable level. They also complained about fuel shortages that have been going on for two years.

It is the first time that there have been protests of this size against government services in Iraqi Kurdistan. Such demonstrations have in the past been limited to other parts of the country, like Baghdad.

Awat Sheikh Janab – the top official in Kalar, and a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUK, which controls the town – said 34 people were wounded in the protests. Six of them were reportedly shot and the others injured by stone-throwers.

The demonstrations in Kalar were organised by two local groups founded two months ago, the Kalar-Rizgary Civil Association and the Change Association.

Prior to the protests, the mayor and eight sub-district commissioners had announced that they would step down if public services weren’t improved.

But the clashes broke out after the mayor refused to talk to the demonstrators.

Later, the marchers attacked government buildings and other offices, setting some alight. Government officials said property including a car, eight computers, furniture and television sets were burnt, and some 15 million dinars, over 10,000 US dollars, were stolen from a local labour office.

Rebin Taha, a spokesman for the demonstrators, downplayed the allegations, insisting that the damage was not great.

Major-General Hussein Mansour, who heads Kalar's fire service, said 17 of his men were wounded in the clashes.

While the vast majority of the demonstrators had legitimate demands "some were saboteurs and others were looters”, he said. “It is true that there have been fuel shortages but the fuel we have has been distributed fairly.”

Awat Sheikh Janab admitted there had been shortages of water and electricity, but said the demonstrators went too far.

“The young had good intentions and we support their demands, but the rioters exploited the situation,” he said.

He added that the protesters arrested by police included supporters of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam, and he suggested that other political parties had also engineered the riots.

Brigadier-General Nawshirwan Ahmed, the security chief in Kalar, confirmed that some members of political parties were arrested, including members of the Kurdish Islamic Union and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, KDP.

Local officials blamed the KDP – a longstanding rival of the PUK – for escalating the violence.

But Taha said the protesters were simply asserting their rights, and insisted that none of them was motivated by partisan politics. “There were no saboteurs among us,” he said.

Mohammad Abdullah, a local KDP official, denied that his party had played any part in the violence, adding, “There are few services here and the government is negligent.”

A day after the demonstrations, the Kalar offices of the PUK and the Kurdistan Islamic Union offices released a joint statement in which they both expressed their support for residents’ demands and condemned the violence.

Wyria Hama Tahir is an IWPR trainee in Sulaimaniyah.