Highway reopened, curfew lifted in Kirkuk after violent night

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Curfew was lifted in Kirkuk and the main highway in and out of the city was reopened on Sunday morning, the city’s police told Rudaw, hours after violence left at least four people dead and dozens of others wounded. 

Violence erupted in the multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk on Saturday after days of protests blocked the Erbil-Kirkuk highway. 

Kirkuk police said that the highway had reopened, with traffic returning to normal, and that the tents set up by protesters had also been removed. The 24-hour curfew imposed in the city the day before was also lifted at 8:30am local time on Sunday. 

Tensions escalated after Arab and Turkmen demonstrators staged a sit-in near the headquarters of the Iraqi military’s Joint Operations Command (JOC), located on the main Kirkuk-Erbil road in what used to be an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). They are angry that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani reportedly ordered Iraqi forces to evacuate the headquarters and two other buildings to allow the Erbil-based KDP to return to its offices.  

Dozens of protesters, mainly members of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia and their supporters, had set up tents near the JOC headquarters since last week, blocking the highway and vowing to continue protesting until Sudani revokes his decision. 

Kurdish residents of Kirkuk on Saturday afternoon amassed in protest against the blockade on the highway. They expressed support for a KDP return to the city and accused Arabs of silencing them. The protesters lit fires in several streets and blocked traffic. 

The tensions escalated on Saturday with the competing protests and Iraqi security forces and the PMF fired live bullets at the Kurdish demonstrators.