IRAQ: Hundreds of Iraqi Christians in Arbil city march to the United Nations office seeking support after Islamic State militants set them a deadline to submit to their rule or leave

Record ID: 215730

  • Title: IRAQ: Hundreds of Iraqi Christians in Arbil city march to the United Nations office seeking support after Islamic State militants set them a deadline to submit to their rule or leave
  • Date: 24th July 2014
  • Summary: ARBIL, IRAQ (JULY 24, 2014) (REUTERS) DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING WITH BANNERS CHRISTIAN DEMONSTRATORS TAKING PART IN PROTEST VARIOUS OF PRIESTS AND KURDISH OFFICIALS TAKING PART IN DEMONSTRATION DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING AND CHANTING IN DEMONSTRATION VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING BANNERS AS THEY TAKE PART IN PROTEST BANNER READING IN ENGLISH: "WE DEMAND FROM THE UN TO EST
  • Embargoed: 8th August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAXPP2J227VD4P2INVDM47TKXZ
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Iraqi Christians marched to the United Nations office in Arbil city on Thursday (July 24) calling for help for families who fled in the face of threats by Islamic State militants.
    The protesters, carrying banners and chanting slogans, made their way through the city streets.
    More than half a million people have been displaced across Iraq since June, when the north's biggest city, Mosul, fell to Sunni insurgents who have have harried Shi'ite Turkmen and Shabaks, Yezidis and Christians.
    "The tragedy of Christian displacement in Mosul started with the fall of regime but this is the first time that a collective displacement has happened. It used to be individual displacement targeting university teachers and rich people, now it includes the rich, poor and disabled -- every one should leave his house and town," said protester Rawia Aziz.
    Hundreds of Christian families left Mosul ahead of Saturday's deadline to convert, leave the city to be put to death, many of them stripped of their possessions as they fled for safety. They formed the remnants of a community which once numbered in the tens of thousands and traced its presence in Mosul to the earliest years of Christianity.
    People of other faiths in the once diverse city have also fled from the ultra-conservative militants, who have blown up mosques and shrines and seized property of fleeing minorities.
    "We are protesting to support our brothers in Mosul because they were persecuted and forced to flee their houses. This is a crime against Iraq, Christians and Muslims, we lived together as brothers for long time, we just want the peace and love. Today we call on the government to find a solution as soon as possible," said Samah Essa.
    The Islamic State's cleansing campaign has rid farmland and villages in the surrounding Nineveh province and beyond of longtime minority inhabitants, leaving the country's north segregated along clear sectarian and ethnic lines.
    Much of the north is now divided between the Islamic State and the Kurds, who have expanded their autonomous region by as much as 40 percent as the central government's presence has crumbled.
    Minorities are being forced to choose which part of Iraq they belong to, hastening the country's de-facto partition and transforming its demography, perhaps irreversibly.
    Besides Mosul, around 20 towns and villages populated by minorities in Nineveh have been seized by militants, as well as one in Kirkuk province and several more around the town of Tuz Khurmato.
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