Proteste in Iranisch-Kurdistan
Protests following the killing of two Kurdish kolbars, cross-border porters, have continued in Iran and spread to other cities while police authorities issued a statement on the deaths. (...)
Kolbars are frequently harassed by the Iranian authorities and many have been killed. The kolbars are semi-legal porters who carry goods on their backs, across the mountains from the Kurdistan Region to Iran’s Kurdish provinces, which are some of the poorest regions of Iran.
People in Baneh began protesting the killings on Tuesday, closing their shops in a general strike and as many as 5,000 took to the streets.
Shops remained closed on Wednesday as heavily armed security forces were deployed and the government cracked down on social media users, arresting people associated with popular accounts, and shutting down the internet in Baneh.
“Now the city is filled with the sound of helicopters flying in the sky while anti-riot forces have been transferred from Saghez and Sanandaj to Baneh to create an atmosphere of fear and terror,” an eyewitness told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) about the situation in the city on Wednesday. (...)
In Sardasht a group of about 50 people briefly rallied Thursday morning, KHRN reported.
Security forces have also been stationed around government offices in Marivan, according to KHRN.
Ten political and human rights activists began a three-day hunger strike to “demand the authorities to be accountable to Kurdistan people in the matter,” read a statement from the ten published by KHRN. They noted that due to high unemployment and poverty, Kurds have no choice but to work as kolbars.