SOHR: One injured during protests in Afrin against Turkish electricity company
According to SOHR, the unarmed protester who was shot was originally from Deir al-Zor and belonged to the Jaish Al-Sharqiyah rebel faction.
Members of the military police in Afrin shot and injured one protester during protests against Turkish electricity companies in Jinderes in Afrin’s countryside, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Friday.
According to SOHR, the unarmed protester who was shot was originally from Deir al-Zor and belonged to the Jaish Al-Sharqiyah rebel faction.
Alexander McKeever, an open-source investigator at Syrians for Truth and Justice, tweeted the protests were against the Turkish Energy Company STE due to its high prices.
“STE HQ and the Afrin Local Council were stormed and burned,” he said.
“Police (and allegedly Turkish security) gunfire stopped protestors outside the Serail building, controlled by Hatay Gov.”
“At least one man was killed and several others wounded,” he added.
Turkish-backed factions have occupied Afrin since March 2018, when the Turkish Army launched a cross-border offensive against the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
However, the protest was not limited only to the Kurdish region of Afrin.
SOHR reported that there were also protests in non-Kurdish areas such as Marae’, Soran, Azaz, and al-Bab against Turkish electricity companies.
Moreover, protestors in Marae set the headquarters of the Local Council on fire, calling on Turkey to leave northern Syria.
McKeever tweeted that cycles of these protests have occurred since the end of last year.
“STE is one of several Turkish-based energy companies that supply electricity to locations in Aleppo based on contracts signed with the Local Councils,” he said. “When they raise prices, local customers often have no alternative.”
Source: Kurdistan24