Assyrian Police in North Iraq Protest Against Marginalization

    


Northern Iraq – AINA — Nearly 300 Assyrian policemen in the Nineveh plain in northern Iraq protested on the 21 November outside the office of the local governor, in the city of Baghdede, against what they see as attempts to rid the area of the Assyrian police force which has begun to be established there.

The policemen were specifically referring to an order from the local authorities in Nineveh province which would force them to relocate to protecting buildings in Mosul instead of patrolling the streets of the Nineveh plain. One of the policemen, speaking on conditions of anonymity said “there are forces who don’t want to see an Assyrian police force take shape here.”

The Iraqi ministry of interior issued an order for the formation of a local police force for the Nineveh plain area in June 2006 but the order has met with fierce resistance by the local authorities in the Nineveh province, which remain under heavy influence of Kurds attached to the KDP and PUK parties headed by Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani.

The Kurdish political parties are accused of using their influence in the Nineveh province to stop the local police force from being established as it would work against their expansion plans in the area.

Meanwhile as the Kurdish KDP party is working against the formal police force it is funding unauthorized guards which work in the Nineveh plain under the name of “Christian protection councils,” who are indirectly attached to the Kurdish paramilitary forces.