Hundreds of Kurds protest in northern Iraq

Jul 30, 2008, 8:59 GMT

Baghdad - Hundreds of Iraq's politically assertive Kurds protested in the northern Kurdish capital of Sulaymanyah over a provincial election law passed by parliament last week, security sources said Wednesday.

The Kurdish protestors gathered in various places across the northern Sulaymanyah province.

The last two days have witnessed similar protests in the northern provinces of Arbil and Kirkuk.

During the Kurdish protest in Kirkuk Monday 22 people were killed and 150 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up amongst the protestors.

Angry Kurds are objecting to a provincial elections law passed by parliament last week which calls for a secret ballot to decide a power-sharing arrangement in the multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk.

In the last week's parliament session, Kurdish lawmakers walked out in protest at the law.

The Iraqi legislature approved the law despite the walkout by Kurdish lawmakers. Kurdish parliament members promised to have the law rewritten. They also denounced the measure as 'unconstitutional.'

Meanwhile, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd himself, rejected the law in a presidential statement.