Anger at University Protest Crackdown

Students are accusing police of excessive force during a protest about the lack of services at Koya University, in northern Iraq.



About 400 students blocked traffic in front of the university on March 8 to demand the university pay their monthly stipends, which were two months late, and provide better basic services such as water and electricity.



Security forces quickly surrounded the protesters, shooting in the air to disperse them. Some students were beaten with rifle butts and electric-shock sticks, according to organisers of the demonstration and video footage taken by participants.



Security officials denied using excessive force, one said the students were beaten because they tried to grab police weapons and threw stones at them.



Twenty students were injured, eight of them hospitalised, according to the protesters. Another eight were arrested and briefly jailed. At least five members of the security forces were injured, according to Koya mayor Kurdo Omar Abdulla, who studies history at the university.



The university gave students their stipends - 20 US dollars for Koya residents and 35 dollars for dormitory residents - later that day, leaving organisers of the demonstration feeling victorious. But they warned that they would continue their protest if living conditions do not improve.



"When the power and water are cut, our lives stop," said Soran Kamal, 25, one of the organisers who was arrested and treated in hospital for bruises and a cut to his forehead. "We can't study like this."



Koya, the hometown of Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, lies 120 kilometres east of Erbil in northern Iraq. The university is the latest in Iraqi Kurdistan to hold protests, which have grown among Kurdish youth since late last year.



Although Iraqi Kurdistan is sheltered from much of the violence in Iraq, the region still suffers shortages in electricity, water and fuel.



Many youths have accused the authorities of corruption and nepotism and argue that democracy does not exist in Iraqi Kurdistan, which is dominated by two parties. They claim officials haven't kept their promises to improve services and job opportunities.



"It doesn't matter that we were beaten," said Jabar Ali, 24, who studies Kurdish literature at the university and was injured during the demonstration. "What matters is that our demands were met."



"We were planning on giving stipends that day," said university president Khdir Ma'ssom, who called the protesters "rioters". "They didn't need to protest over that."



Abdulla accused the demonstrators of throwing stones at police and said Islamists had planned the protest. Organisers claimed they were independent of any party.



Asswad Haji Mala, head of Koya security, denied that the protesters were beaten, and noted that they didn’t have permission to go ahead with their action. According to the interior ministry, security forces still work under a Ba'athist-era law obliging them to confront protesters if they don't obtain authorisation before they hold demonstrations.



"The Kurdish people don't understand democracy yet," he said. "They don't know how to treat security forces."



Organisers said they did not try to get permission because they suspected officials would not allow a protest that criticised the government.



The day after the demonstration the university named 20 students accused of organising the protest and threatened to punish or expel them. The university has yet to take action against the students, but some expressed concern that they may be forced to leave.



Some organisers said the behaviour of police could prompt students to arm themselves next time they demonstrate.



"These acts will force students in another direction," said Kamal. "Maybe next time we will carry knives."



Wrya Hama Tahir is an IWPR trainee journalist in Kalar.