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Iraqinews.com (19 December 2017)

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi urged Tuesday the country’s northern semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan to respect current protests against the government, also revealing that next May’s parliament and provincial elections would be run simultaneously.

Abadi, speaking during his weekly press conference, urged Kurdistan’s government to “respect the peaceful protests” as the region closes a second day of violent protests decrying delayed employee payments and poor services.

Abadi warned his government would not “stay idle” if any citizen in the region is harmed.

At least five protesters reportedly died while 80 were wounded during today’s clashes with security forces. Many political parties’ offices were also torched.

He also said it was “not possible to disburse all of the region’s salaries due to corruption”.