Kirkuk residents protest as private generators shut down over fuel shortages

KIRKUK, Iraq — Residents in the Tariq Sharqati district and the Military Agricultural Neighborhood of Kirkuk took to the streets on Friday evening after several private generators stopped operating due to a lack of fuel. With electricity outages continuing and temperatures rising, residents demanded that the generators be restarted and that the necessary fuel be supplied. In Tariq Sharqati, residents held a demonstration, while protesters in the Military Agricultural Neighborhood burned tires and blocked several roads. Local residents said prolonged power cuts have become difficult to endure during a period of high temperatures. Tamer al-Ishaki, head of the Kirkuk Generators Union, denied reports of a general strike, saying some generators had stopped because of a shortage of commercial kerosene while others had not received the official fuel quota allocated since the 9th and 10th of the month. He said the price of a 200-liter barrel of commercial kerosene has reached about 240,000 dinars on the market, adding that rising prices and fuel shortages have strained generator operators. Ishaki said he hoped the crisis could be resolved the following day and that the halted generators could resume operation if authorities intervened. No further details were immediately available.