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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – With the arrival of spring and the beginning of Newroz celebration, Erbil police called on people on Saturday to celebrate the occasion peacefully and warned about the use of celebratory gunfire.
Injuries and death are reported every year during the Newroz festivities where celebratory gunfire is common. The official celebrations in the Kurdistan region continue for three days where people sing and dance, visit the countryside, wear Kurdish traditional clothes and cook traditional food.
"Our forces will take legal procedures against those people who use guns during picnics and shoot," Erbil police spokesperson, Hogir Aziz, told Rudaw Radio on Saturday.
Kurdistan Region is flooded with small firearms as there are still a large number of arms markets operating across the Region making it easy for private citizens to obtain a firearm.
In 2021 Newroz, footage showed heavy weapons being used to mark the occasion. In the same Newroz, a teenager was severely wounded in Duhok.
On Saturday, Duhok Governor Ali Tatar called on people to refrain from shooting during Newroz, asking police to take legal procedures against the shooters.
Video footage showing a wild boar shot dead by men during a Newroz picnic in Sulaimani’s Khalakan in 2021 enraged the public, with people calling for animals to be protected and the men to be fined.
Kurds and many other nations have celebrated Newroz for thousands of years on March 21 which is the first day of the spring.
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