A group of people in Arbil, who paid each $7000 in advance for a government housing project that was meant to help 5000 poor families protested in front of KRG Council of Ministers. But after 5 years only 900 units have been built. The government had tried to give the people land plots in a desolate area outside Arbil, where there isn't any infrastructure.
Transcript:
Protester 1: They’ve been feet dragging for 5 years with lie after lie.
Neither do they give us back the money, nor do they grant us a land plot.
For how much longer will they make these people wait?
Not one person comes out to say a word. They don’t even acknowledge our existence.
Protester 2: We want out future to be clear, even it takes another year, we don’t mind, but let it be clear.
We own that land, why won’t they give it to us? What’s in it, oil? Is there is oil in it? Let them take it for themselves! It’s our plot, give it to us! We are renters.
Protester 3: I’ve been here sine 9 o'clock, old as I am. I’ve payed $7000 five years ago, and nothing’s come of it.
We want the $7000 back with a plot of land. It’s not a charity. But they don’t give it back. They don’t even give us an answer whenever we come to the Council of Ministers.
– What’s your situation at the moment?
– I’ve rented a room; I pay $170
Protester 4: The land is designated, give it to us. Give us the $7000 back. That’s all.
Protester 5: Whenever they get into trouble, they ask the poor to protect their villa’s. All those policemen are poor like us; they are all renters. They turn the poor against each other, while they are still drunk [from last night]. We blocked the road, they kick us aside. What have we asked for? We ask for what we owed. Give us back our $7000.
Protester 6: These people have been here since morning, not even an employee came out to speak to say a word.
Protester 7: We’ve been here since morning. We protested calmly, but they ignored us. Then we blocked the road. Tomorrow they will call us terrorists, they wanted to blow themselves up.
Protester 8: Why is there land worth $10 million for al-Maliki, but not for these poor people? How can people retain their love for their homeland, and when attacked by an enemy, protect it?
This is why when first bullet fired by ISIS when they reached Makhmur, all of Arbil ran away.
People don’t consider this land theirs any more. A group in power have taken over everything in the name of revolution, Peshmerga and the Kurdish nationalism.