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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — At least four people are said to be dead and multiple others injured as clashes continued between protesters and security forces in Sulaimani on Monday night.
Locals reported at least three dead in Darbandikhan, Kalar, and Kifri late on Monday, allegedly shot by security forces and guards.
A 26-year-old was confirmed dead on Monday evening after being shot in Chamchamal.
The violence comes after a number of political party offices were targeted in Said Sadiq, southeast of Sulaimani city.
According to NetBlocks, an international non-partisan group monitoring internet access across the globe, internet usage fell to 48 percent of its usual levels in Sulaimani early Tuesday, indicating disruptions to internet access across the province.
Protests erupted in Sulaimani city last Wednesday, where civil servants convened at Saraa Square – the epicenter of the city’s antigovernment protests in 2011 – over further delays in their salaries.
Kurdistan Region civil servants have gone unpaid for much of this year amid budget disputes between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil and the federal government in Baghdad.
Protesters in Said sadiq set alight the offices of all five major Kurdish political parties on Sunday. Live videos from protesters showed the offices of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) and Gorran (Change Movement) set on fire, as well as the town mayor’s office.
Protests spread to other districts and areas of the province, and people from Halabja, Chamchamal, Kifri, Kalar, Sharazur and Darbandikhan also took to the streets.
Footages of protesters in Said Sadiq attacking a retired KDP Peshmerga also went viral on social media.
“Fifty people beat me in the building,” Mohammed Tofiq told Rudaw's Horvan Rafaat, saying he had suffered injuries to his head, spine and legs.
Omed Khoshnaw, head of the KDP bloc in the Kurdish parliament addressed the attack in a tweet, calling the perpetrators “slaves who have not been raised well."
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