Internal Security Forces detain IDPs due to protests against the lack of services in northeastern Syria camp
Hasakah – North-Press Agency
Delsoz Yousef –Jindar Abdulqadir
Dozens of IDPs held protests in Washu-Kani camp in the countryside of Hasakah, northeastern Syria, due to the lack of services provided to them with the onset of winter, while the camp administration justified the protest as "misunderstanding". Washu-Kani camp, which is inhabited by thousands of IDPs from Sere-Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and its countryside, has witnessed protests demanding an improvement in the service situation with the onset of winter, after which two people were detained by the Internal Security Forces (Asayish).
Um Yasser, an IDP from the countryside of Sere-Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) said that the relief aid distributed to them is "very little", and it doesn't meet their needs in light of their inability to purchase all the supplies due to their high prices. While Sabha al-Jassem, complained about the difficult living situation within the camp, she said: "My family is consisted of 10 people, but they only gave us 6 sponges to sleep on", stating that the cold weather made their situation worse.
The Autonomous Administration of northeastern Syria has recently distributed financial aid to the residents of Washu-Kani camp, according to the members of each family, while some families didn't get that aid, provided that they will be compensated by distributing the needs to them for free, which caused the resentment of many of them.
Um Ali, a woman from the town of al-Manajir in the southern countryside of Sere-Kaniye explained that all the IDPs, whether young or old went out in the protest, adding: "We were given financial aid of SYP 100,000 ($111), but in return, we will buy kerosene and other materials, meaning that the money will be returned to their owners again and we won't benefit from anything.. We are all homeless and our conditions are dire.”
Commenting on the protests of the displaced people, the official in Washu-Kani camp, Hassan Yousef told North-Press that: "The issue is completely different from what is being said, as one of the NGOs delivered gifts for the children by the New Year, but there was a shortage in the number of the gifts and this led the children to protest to deliver the gifts for them, as well,” explaining that they as an administration, took care of bridging the shortfall and delivering gifts to all the children later.
Concerning the criticism of the people about the lack of aid, Yousef justified that the bad weather is impeding their workflow, describing the protests which took place in the camp as a "misunderstanding", stressing on the endeavor to find solutions for them.
While one of the officials in the security forces within the camp, preferring not to reveal her name, said that the reason of the detention of the two people during the protests, was that they photographed the protesters in order to create confusion and inflation, indicating that they will release them soon.