ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A large number of people from Syria's Afrin region waged an angry protest in front of the United Nations (UN) office in Erbil on Wednesday, condemning the killing of four Kurds who attempted to light a bonfire in celebration of the Kurdish New Year, Newroz, in the rebel-held town of Jindires in northwest Syria earlier this week.
Turkey-backed fighters of the Ahrar al-Sharqiya armed militia opened gunfire on a Kurdish family celebrating Newroz in Jindires on Monday, killing at least four people and wounding two others.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Tuesday evening that three Ahrar al-Sharqiya militants - originally from Deir ez-Zor - were arrested by security forces in relation to the killing of the Newroz celebrants.
The protesters' key demands in Erbil were; a just trial of the perpetrators, the expulsion of rebel groups from Afrin, guaranteeing the return of civilians to Afrin, as well as the release of political prisoners.
"Rebel groups must leave Afrin and Turkey take their puppets away from these regions. Civilians are innocent people and they have no power to do anything," Emine Reshwelik, a protester, told Rudaw.
Fatima Abdulrahman, another protester, said "We are from Afrin and we are not cowards at all. We will not stop our demonstrations until our demands are met."
Jindires was seized by Turkey and Turkish-backed forces in 2018 during an operation to drive Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) from the Afrin region.
Hundreds of protestors took to the streets of Jindires on Tuesday to protest the killings while waving the Kurdish flag as burial processions commenced.
The Ahrar al-Sharqiya militia is known for various human rights violations and assassinations against Kurds in the country.
