Hundreds took to the streets in the city of Afrin in Syria’s Aleppo governorate late on 3 June to protest against routine blackouts and a sharp hike in the prices electricity provided by Turkey.

The protesters stormed the main building of the local electricity company and set in on fire, before Turkish-backed militants opened fire on them.

Local reports say at least one protester was killed and two others were injured. As the protests grew in size, demonstrators were seen chanting “Turks go out of Syria” and “Syria is free.”

 

Similar protests were reported in the cities of Jindires, Suran Marea, and Al-Bab, also in Aleppo governorate.

In Marea, protesters set the local headquarters of the Turkish-backed Local Council on fire.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights (SOHR), the electricity in the areas occupied by Ankara’s forces and their militants is provided by the STE and AK Energy Turkish companies.

Just hours after these protests swept through Aleppo, the state-owned Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that Turkish forces shelled a high voltage power line that supplies power to Tal Tamr and other villages in the countryside of Hasakah governorate, leaving the area in the dark.

These developments come just days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his troops will proceed with the planned military invasion into Syria, starting with the cities of Tal Rifaat and Manbij.

The operation will resume efforts to establish a 30-kilometer long ‘safe zone’ along Turkey’s southern borders in order to curb “threats” from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) – the backbone of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – which Ankara labels as terrorist organizations.

Turkey says US-backed SDF forces pose a threat to its borders, and in response, Turkish troops have occupied large swathes of northern Syria.

However, over recent years discontent has been brewing against the Turkish occupation, as militants allied with Ankara’s forces have been accused of embezzling millions in humanitarian aid and of using the global fuel and wheat crisis to hike the price of daily necessities.