Tensions rise in Iraq ahead of Kurdish referendum

Hundreds demonstrated in eastern Iraq against a planned referendum on the secession of northern Iraq’s Kurdish region, which neighbouring countries and Western powers fear could break up the country and stir regional ethnic and sectarian conflict. Protestors, who gathered outside the Baquba city council on Sunday, waved banners denouncing the September 25 vote and called […]

Hundreds demonstrated in eastern Iraq against a planned referendum on the secession of northern Iraq’s Kurdish region, which neighbouring countries and Western powers fear could break up the country and stir regional ethnic and sectarian conflict.

Protestors, who gathered outside the Baquba city council on Sunday, waved banners denouncing the September 25 vote and called on local authorities to ban the polls.

“We are taking to the streets to express our rejection of this secession referendum,” Salim Saleh, a protestor, told Anadolu news agency.

The non-binding referendum will see Iraqis in areas under the control of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) – and in a handful of territories disputed between Erbil and Baghdad – vote whether to secede from Iraq.