In Solidarity with Mahabad, Eastern Kurdistan Cities Stage a Day of Strike

22:48 - 15 May 2015

Kurdistan Hot Topics

Kurdpa: Shops remained closed in the city of Mahabad, Sanandaj and other Kurdish cities in solidarity with Mahabad as called for by cultural activists.

Kurdistan News Agency, Kurdpa has learned that following the call for a day of strike in Eastern Iran, several cities such as Mahabad and Sanandaj responded in action.

Pictures taken in the city of Mahabad, the origin of recent unrest in Kurdistan, show that a noticeable number of stores and shops were closed for Thursday, despite being one of the busiest days of the week in Iranian calendar, as people get ready for their one day weekend.

Similar arouse was also evident in other cities of Sanandaj, Piranshar and Mariwan.

Eastern Kurdistan cities are still under undeclared military curfew. In the restive city of Mahabad, back up troops dispatched form neighbouring cities are stationed in garrisons across the city, as there is not enough accommodation to house their stay, one source told Kurdpa.

“The government forces are stationed in garrison courtyards due to lack of accommodation,” the Kurdpa source stated.

A number of Kurdistan civil activists had called for a day of national strike to be held on Thursday, May 14, 2015 in solidarity with the uprising in Mahabad and the mass arrests that followed.

“Our main objective is to draw public opinion’s attention inside and abroad to the peaceful struggle of the Kurdish nation,” one of the strike organizers told Kurdpa.

The activists’ call to strike stated “We, a number of civil activists across Kurdistan, appeal to the Kurdish nation to hold a day of national strike to commemorate the 7th day of Mahabad’s uprising.”

Exactly five years ago, Kurds of Iran staged a similar – however much wider and bigger - strike closing all shops and bazaars in major cities.

“Iranian Kurds staged one of their largest strikes in recent years, closing shops and bazaars in nearly all Sunni Kurdish cities and towns in western Iran to protest the executions of five people, including four Kurdish activists, on Sunday,” then The New York Times reported.

To thwart the resurgence of such civil disobediences, the regime summoned and threatened most of the shop owners and temporarily suspended the licenses of many of the stores, and levied penalties on those who closed their shops that day.

Writing by Kurdpa Staff Writers and editing by Sharmin Hassaniani.

Some of the pictures from Mariwan:

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