The events of the protests from February 17 to April 19, 2011, and the unhealed wounds of those events..!
Arsalan Ali Rashid – Activist
Regarding the protest events from February 17 to April 19, 2011, they consisted of a series of political and social demonstrations in the Kurdistan Region, held against corruption, abuse of power, and the lack of citizens’ rights in the region.
The protests began on February 17, 2011, continued in the following days, and were part of a broader wave of public dissatisfaction among the people of the Kurdistan Region toward the two ruling corrupt parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, in the Kurdistan Region.
At the outset, on February 17, nearly 3,000 students and protesters gathered in front of Branch 4 of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
Party gunmen responded by firing live ammunition, which led to the martyrdom of Rezwan Ali and 58 people being injured.
-February 19: Two more people, Sherzad Taha and Sorkew Zahid, were killed by the bullets of security forces.
-February 20: NRT TV was burned.
-February 25: In Chamchamal, two people, Garmian Ahmed (13 years old) and Bilal Ahmed were killed.
-February 26: In Sulaymaniyah, a person named Omed Jalal was killed.
-April 4: Metro Center published statistics on violations against journalists, documenting 100 cases of violations.
-April 5: For the fourth time, permission to hold demonstrations in Erbil was denied.
-April 9: Kurds in the city of Sheffield, UK took to the streets in support of the protesters in the Kurdistan Region.
-April 16: Faruq Rafiq was sentenced to one month in prison over a complaint filed by Sozan Khala Shehab, head of the parliamentary faction of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
-April 17: 18 people were injured in Sulaymaniyah, and 200 students who intended to demonstrate were met with violence and beaten.
-April 18: 83 civilians were injured in Sulaymaniyah, and a person named Hardi Farooq was killed. In Koya, students were also beaten in Kalka Smaq.
-April 19: The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan deployed a large force to Sulaymaniyah, estimated at 5,000 armed personnel, equipped with light and heavy weapons. On the same day, a crackdown began, and 45 students were injured by the PUK’s counter terrorism forces. As a result, the protests were suppressed.
As has always been the case, demanding one’s rights in the Kurdistan Region under the rule of two families and the two ruling parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party does not lead to a good outcome, And from that day until now, these events remain a deep wound on all our hearts, that the children of this Kurdistan Region are killed by the hands of their own brothers.