Kurds in Sanandaj protest despite militarization
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Iranian Kurds on Thursday afternoon gathered in the city center of Sanandaj in a peaceful protest to the continuous and random killing of Kulbaran (border couriers) by the regime soldiers.
The move is also in solidarity with the protests that started in other Kurdish cities, particularly Baneh and Mariwan.
Demonstrators in Baneh on Tuesday asked the governor to bring the killers of the Kulbaran to justice or resign. In response, Iranian authorities militarized the city and temporarily detained several protesters.
Thousands in military uniform and plain clothes have reportedly been deployed in Kurdish cities to intimidate the crowd into stopping their democratic demands.
Reports show every minute more and more people join the crowd of protestors in the capital of Kurdistan Province, northwest of Iran.
Armed revolutionary guards have reportedly arrested 8 civilians but Kurdistan 24 could not independently confirm the detention reports.
Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on Wednesday declared support for demonstrations by the Kurds in Iran.
"I, as a Kurd from Bakur [Turkey's Kurdistan], am with all our people in Rojhelat [Iranian Kurdistan]. They are not alone," HDP's spokesperson Osman Baydemir told Kurdistan 24.
People in the Iranian Kurdish cities of Baneh, Mariwan, and Sanandaj have been on the streets, protesting the killing of two civilian couriers; Ghader Bahrami, 41, father of four, and Heydar Faraji, 22.
"40 million Kurds across the Middle East support them," Baydemir stated.
"Our brothers and sisters in Eastern Kurdistan are unfortunately passing through a very difficult time," Baydemir added.
"I call upon the Tehran government to leave behind its enmity and racism toward the Kurds," Baydemir said.
"Those engaging in hostility against the Kurds have been defeated. Those who befriended the Kurdish people have succeeded," he said.
The rising tension in Baneh and elsewhere has led to clashes between a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)-affiliated East Kurdistan Force (YRK) and Iranian forces.
YRK reportedly killed two Iranian soldiers in retaliation for the two killed kulbar on Tuesday.
