Assyrians Demonstrate in Sweden Against Ethnic Cleansing in Iraq

 

     

Gothenburg (Zweden)- AINA — Assyrians took to the streets in Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg, on Saturday June 16 to demonstrate against the ethnic cleansing their people are suffering in today’s Iraq. In the past weeks several Assyrian communities in the Western have demonstrated to highlight the persecution in Iraq. Demonstrations have taken place in Stockholm, Toronto and San Diego.

The demonstrators in Gothenburg demanded protection for Assyrians in Iraq in the form of an administrative area in the Nineveh plains in north of Iraq. The Nineveh plains administrative area is expected to offer Christian Assyrians and other persecuted minorities a region ruled by their own local parliaments and security forces.

Several of the Swedish political figures who delivered speeches during the demonstration in Gothenburg expressed their deep concern for the future of the Assyrians and their support for the establishment of the Nineveh plains administrative area.

Commenting on the persecution of Assyrians in Iraq MP Hans Linde from the Swedish left party said, “The violence has now reached such a magnitude that we can label it ethnic cleansing. The violence is on such a high level that I as a Swede can never imagine it.”