ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A standoff occurred on Tuesday between residents of illegally-built house skeletons in the northern Kirkuk province and local authorities after an encroachment removal committee brought a bulldozer to demolish the properties.
“This is an illegal encroachment built in Sector 58 near the Kobane checkpoint, and we are here to clear it,” Yahya Nouraldin - Head of the Encroachment Removal Committee in Kirkuk told Rudaw’s Hardi Mohammed.
“An individual approached us, identified himself as an advisor to the Kirkuk Governor [Mohammed Samaan Agha] and claimed these properties belonged to him, insisting we could not demolish them,” Nouraldin added.
The units in reference are located south of Kirkuk city, housing Arab residents relocated from other provinces.
The residents fiercely resisted the demolitions, with one of them threatening to jump from his unfinished home if the bulldozer approached. Others rushed toward the bulldozer's blade, while some claimed to be relatives of fighters killed in the war against the Islamic State (ISIS).
However, they declined to comment when asked about their relationship to the Kirkuk governor's advisor.
Salman Ahmad, a field supervisor in the committee, accused the residents of taking “women and children inside the properties to make it look as though families were actively living there.”
“This is a tactic designed for the media to fabricate claims that people are being evicted,” he said.
Following attacks on the removal teams and allegations of inciting crowds to impede public duties, the committee filed an official complaint against the governor's advisor with the Federal Commission of Integrity in Baghdad.
