Salih: Violence is not a solution to confront the legitimate demands of citizens

 Baghdad - INA

The President of the Republic, Dr. Barham Salih, issued today, Tuesday, a statement regarding the events in the city of Sulaymaniyah and the situation in the Kurdistan region.

According to the statement carried by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), Salih said: “We have been following with great concern and interest the developments of the events in the city of Sulaymaniyah for days, including demonstrations and popular protests and the accompanying acts of violence, which led to the injury of a number of citizens and security forces, and a number of buildings were exposed Burning and destruction.”

He added, "We affirm that peaceful protest is a guaranteed constitutional right that must be respected and not violated. It is the right of citizens to demonstrate peacefully to demand their legitimate rights, especially those related to securing a decent living for them and their families from salaries and improving conditions and public services."

Salih continued: "The relevant authorities must meet these demands and work on radical solutions to the problem of salaries and improving living conditions, through rapid and serious steps based on openness and directing people's resources to serve the citizens, and adopting real methods of reform, as the abuse of public money and corruption Administrative, financial, looting and smuggling must stop. "

He pointed out that, "We reiterate here, that violence is not a solution to confront the legitimate demands of citizens, and the will and demands of peaceful demonstrators must be respected, and we ask the security forces to act according to the law and to refrain from using violence, and to allow the media to freely exercise their work without restriction or aggression.”.