According to several reports, two people were shot dead on Saturday during a demonstration in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk against the closure of the road to Hewlêr. At least ten other people were injured during the protests in the Kurdish Rahimawa district in the northern part of the city. Iraqi security forces and Shiite Popular Mobilization Units (Hashd al-Shaabi) fired live ammunition at the crowd, reported by the RojNews news agency.

The demonstrators are demanding the reopening of the highway from Kirkuk to Hewlêr (Erbil), the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The highway is blocked by Arabs and Turkmens, some of whom are said to have come to the city from Baghdad and Diyala. Among them are said to be supporters of the Iran-aligned Popular Mobilization Units.

The trigger for the road blockade is the planned return of a building to the KDP. The building is the former headquarters of the Barzani party in Kirkuk. Since the Kurdistan Region of Iraq lost around 40 percent of its territory to Baghdad - including Kirkuk - in the wake of the independence referendum carried out by KDP leader Mesûd Barzani in 2017 - the building has been used by the Joint Operations Command of the Iraqi Armed Forces.

Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered the return of the building to the KDP. However, Hashd al-Shaabi supporters are resisting this with a protest camp in front of the construction and a road blockade.