Assyrians in Europe took to the streets on Saturday, May 28 to protest the ongoing Kurdish expropriation of Assyrian lands in North Iraq (AINA 2016-04-14). Demonstrations were held in Gutersloh, Germany and in Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden. The street protests were organized by the Assyrian Confederation of Europe, an umbrella for the national Assyrian federations in EU countries.

The issue of Kurdish land expropriation in Assyrian areas in North Iraq was recently highlighted by Human Rights Watch in a report on the most recent case which took place in April this year in an area called Nahla valley. Following a familiar pattern, an influential Kurdish businessman with ties to the ruling Barzani clan started building on Assyrian owned lands in the Nahla valley. When Assyrians of the area tried to stage a protest outside the regional parliament in Arbil they were met with armed peshmerga and Kurdish security known as Asayish.

According to demonstrators, these land grabs are part of a systematic campaign which aims to drive out the remaining Assyrians from their ancestral homelands.