Iraqi Kurds rally to support Iranian brethren

AFP: More than 400 Iraqi Kurds gathered Saturday to protest recent clashes in neighbouring Iran’s northwest Kurdish region as police opened fire to disperse the crowd, an AFP correspondent reported. Carrying anti-Iran banners and shouting slogans condemning the Islamic republic, the demonstrators gathered in the centre of the northern Kurdish town of Suleimaniyah, 330 kilometers (205 miles) north of Baghdad. AFP

SULEIMANIYAH, Iraq – More than 400 Iraqi Kurds gathered Saturday to protest recent clashes in neighbouring Iran’s northwest Kurdish region as police opened fire to disperse the crowd, an AFP correspondent reported.

Carrying anti-Iran banners and shouting slogans condemning the Islamic republic, the demonstrators gathered in the centre of the northern Kurdish town of Suleimaniyah, 330 kilometers (205 miles) north of Baghdad.

“We condemn crimes against the innocent people of Iranian Kurdistan” read one banner, while another said: “Death to the Iranian Islamic Republic.”

“We are appealing to liberate all political prisoners and to end the state of emergency in Iranian Kurdistan,” said protestor Mostafa Fateh, a Kurdish refugee who was born in Iran.

“We also appeal to human rights groups and international organisations to stop the arrest and oppression of Kurds by Iranian authorities.”

Riots and fighting between security forces and Kurds have plagued Iran’s northwest Kurdish region of Saghez in recent weeks.

In July, a young Kurdish man wanted by police was shot and killed during his arrest in Iran’s Kurdish stronghold of Mahabad.

Subsequent clashes between residents and police killed one policeman and resulted in dozens of arrests.