On Sunday, the security forces of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) raided the studio of the Kurdish News Network (KNN) in Hewlêr (Erbil).

In the morning, plainclothes officers raided the premises and confiscated extensive files and film material, as well as computers and cell phones.

The KNN's board of directors condemned the raid as an “attack on press freedom”. The station assessed the action as a politically motivated operation.

The raid came as various protests have been taking place in southern Kurdistan for weeks; education workers and other public sector employees are on strike because they have not received their salaries.

The Movement for Change (Gorran), which is co-owner of the Sulaymaniyah-based KNN channel, also sees the reason for the raid in the coverage of the wave of strikes that is currently sweeping the KRI. “We support the protests of the people and the demands of the strikers. Instruments of oppression will not be able to dissuade us from our claim to be the voice of the Kurdish people,” Gorran stated in a message.