Two protesters shot dead in Iraqi Kurdish town: hospital

The protests, the most serious the region has seen for years, began on October. 1 as a show of public anger over an economic crisis that many blame on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), in which the KDP and other parties are partners.

A few protesters said the bullets came from the KDP building while the party’s local officials denied the accusations.

Officials and witnesses said Saturday that the deaths had been caused a day earlier when security forces opened fire on protesters in the town of Qala Diza, about 75 kilometers (45 miles) north of the city of Sulaimaniyah.

A total of five people have now been killed in the demonstrations.

“Barzani, leave!” demonstrators chanted in Sulaimaniyah, as a wave of protests demanding the payment of long-overdue salaries for civil servants turned political.

But the protests changed course on Friday when stone-throwing protesters headed towards a KDP office in the town of Qaladize, resulting in a confrontation that left at least one person dead.

The latest protests evolved into a mobilisation against Barzani in areas of Iraqi Kurdistan where opposition to the KDP is traditionally strong.

“Our demands are not only focused on corruption and salaries but they now include Barzani’s removal”, said Nazar Mohammed, a civil society activist and one of the organisers of the protest in Sulaimaniyah.

Barzani’s mandate expired in August and political talks over his succession have failed. “All they worry about is the presidency, all this at the detriment of the people who are in a bad economic situation”, he said.

In the city of Sulaimaniyah, capital of the province, protesters set upon the office of the media network Rudaw, which is seen as close to the KDP.

Barzani on Saturday morning appealed for calm across the region. The region is mostly dominated by parties that are opposed to KDP and its leader, regional President Masoud Barzani.

His son is the Kurdistan region’s intelligence chief and his nephew the prime minister.

The KDP, Gorran, PUK and two of the region’s other parties have been wrangling over the terms of an extension of Barzani’s tenure since it expired on August. 20.