Unpaid teachers clash with police in Iraq city

Teachers and activists clashed with security forces in a city in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region Saturday during a protest over unpaid salaries. The more than 5,000 people had gathered in front of the education ministry building in Sulaimaniyah and marched to the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the dominant party in the south of the Kurdish region.
"Where are the employees' salaries, you corrupt government," the protesters chanted in the city, which is administered by the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government. Organisers told AFP that teachers would protest again on Sunday and remain on strike until their salaries were paid and their demands met. Civil servants in Kurdistan have been on strike intermittently since 2015, when salaries stopped being paid on time as the region was hit hard by the cost of the war against the Islamic State group and plummeting oil prices.