Date December 2–5, 2011 Methods Arson, Coercion | Causes Fiery Islamic sermons | |
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Location Iraq-Zakho, Iraqi Kurdistan region Goals Ban Massage parlors and Alcohol | ||
The 2011 Dohuk riots refers to riots (sabotage) by a group of some radical Islamists Kurds on December 2, 2011 which were instigated by Friday prayers' sermons of some radical clerics calling for attacks against stores selling alcohol and massage parlours in Zakho in the Dohuk Governorate, Iraq. The riots soon developed into the looting and burning down of Assyrian, non-Muslim Kurdish and Yazidi-owned properties in other towns in the governorate, causing 4 million dollars in damage.
Contents
Riots ended after Kurdish security forces intervened and intensified massive crackdown on demonstrators. As a result of riots, a group of secular Kurds attacked a number of headquarters of the Kurdistan Islamic Union party.
Background
Assyrian personalities in the region had been wary of the changes of the Arab Spring, particularity the rise of radical Islam. The riots started in Zakho, the northern most town of Iraq, located close to the Turkish border. The town has a Kurdish majority with a sizeable Assyrian and Yezidi minority.
Friday events
The small riots were instigated by Friday sermons in the northern city of Zakho after Muslim clerics called for the destruction of stores that sold alcohol in the city on December 2, 2011. Angry youth mobs attacked Assyrian and Yezidi-owned businesses such as stores, hotels, casinos, massage parlours in the northern town of Zakho. The violence spilled into nearby towns of Dohuk and Semel. Many Assyrian social clubs and homes were also attacked throughout the province. Angry Kurdish pro-government supporters that belonged to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Kurdistan Democratic Party suspected Muslim Brotherhood-inspired Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) clerics to be behind the violence and attacked offices of the Islamic party in Dohuk and Erbil overnight. However, in an official statement, the KIU denied any connections to the riots.
Riots ended three days later.
Targets
Riots began in Zakho but quickly expanded to Semel, Dohuk and surrounding Assyrian villages.
Aftermath
On December 3, the Kurdish intelligence agency Asaish arrested 20 KIU members of parliament and high officials within the party. The President of Iraqi Kurdistan Masoud Barzani ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the event. In an official press release, he stated: "I condemn both these unlawful acts. I call on the people of the Kurdistan Region to preserve our traditions of ethnic and religious co-existence. I have ordered the formation of a committee to look into these disturbances and bring to justice those responsible."