ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Thousands of teachers and other civil servants took to the streets of Sulaimani on Wednesday, demanding their government salaries after months without pay.
Demonstrators gathered at the city’s Saraa square, the epicenter of Sulaimani’s anti-government protests back in 2011. Protesters say they were attacked by police forces, who deployed tear gas before retreating from the scene.
The protest came weeks after teachers in Sulaimani and Halabja went on strike over unpaid salaries on the first day of school in late September.
Duhok also saw significant protests over similar woes earlier this year, with mass arrests and violence against protesters prompting condemnation from both human rights organisations and some parliament officials.
“I am not only here for myself. It kills me when I see someone who cannot provide food for their family,” one protester told Rudaw’s Arkan Ali.
Kurdistan Region civil servants have not been paid for several months of this year amid ongoing disputes between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad over the Region’s share of budget.
“I have been a teacher for 38 years, but I would trade it all to buy a bite of food for a martyr’s children,” said a protesting teacher.
“They have taken all the riches of this country, and we have become slaves,” said another participant. “This government has given up on its people.”
Erbil has struggled to pay civil servant salaries in full and on time for five years, due to the war against the Islamic State (ISIS), disputes with Baghdad and a drop in oil prices.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced Wednesday morning that they will begin to pay salaries for October on Thursday, with KRG spokesperson Jotiar Adil announcing the government was "forced" to take out a $205 million loan for the payments.
The KRG announced plans to cut civil servant salaries back in June.
According to the decision, all employees earning more than 300 thousand Iraqi dinars a month would have their salaries cut by 21 percent.
The KRG has failed to deliver October and November salaries to public employees on its payroll after Baghdad refused to send Kurdistan Region’s budget share upon the recent passing of a controversial fiscal deficit bill.
On November 12, Iraqi parliament passed the Fiscal Deficit Coverage Bill that allowed for the borrowing of 12 trillion Iraqi dinars (10 billion USD) from the central bank in an attempt to cover the fiscal deficit and pay civil sector for the last two months of this year.
The bill passed with a majority vote, despite a walk out by Kurdish MPs after arguments over special requirements for the Kurdistan Region to hand over an unspecified amount of oil revenue to Baghdad in return for its monthly share of the federal budget.
