The Syriac and Assyrian people living in Sweden have started a hunger strike, after they took to the streets yesterday in some cities to protest the attacks of the ISIS on Assyrian villages in Til Temir and Hasekê.

In Stockholm, where around 25 thousand Assyrians live, a group of people has started hunger strike in a tent they set up in Storatorget Square of Södertälje neighbourhood of the city. 10 Assyrian, Syriac and Chaldean people are holding the strike in condemnation of the attacks of the ISIS gangs in Til Temir, Hesekê and Nineveh Plain and to draw attention of the public on the massacre threat that the Assyrian people are facing. The protestors called on the Swedish government, the UN and the EU to stop the massacre of the Assyrian and Syrian people and to take action for the release of those held captive by ISIS.

Local counsellor in Södertälje, Metin Rhawi, who leads the strike action, said the UN and the Swedish government are well informed about what happened in Khabour and added that they are staging the strike to push these agents to take action. Rhawi stressed that although the Swedish government condemned the attacks, more action has to be taken to stop the massacre of the Assyrian and Syrian people by the ISIS gangs. Rhawi asked how long the international community could remain silent while thousands of people are being massacred and 300 people have been abducted. Rhawi drew attention to the resolution of the EU to establish a safe haven in Nineveh Plain and said they wanted the same to be established in Til Temir. Rhawi added that the joint operations of the YPG/YPJ forces, Khabour fighters and Syriac Military Units in the area to protect the people must be supported through the air strikes of the coalition forces just like what was the case in Kobanê.

Chaldean federation spokesperson Bahnam Jabou (67), who also takes part in the hunger strike, said their aim is to show to the whole world that the Syriac, Assyrian and Chaldean people in Til Temir, Heseke and Nineveh Plain are not alone, and that they need help as they have limited capacities to protect themselves. Jabou also called on the UN, EU and Arab Unity to stand against the attacks of ISIS and to take urgent action to stop the killings. Jabou said the UN must take urgent decisions and apply them in order to protect the Christian community in the region.

Kenan Kerimo (67), an executive of Mesopotamia Culture Association, said the Syriac and Assyrian people in the Middle East are facing a threat of extinction today and added that it is only the Kurdish Liberation Movement that protects them against the attacks of the inhumane gangs. Kerimo also criticized the silence of the international community about the matter and called on the EU to take urgent action to protect the Assyrian and Syriac community in the region and to provide humanitarian aid.

The protestors said a march and a rally will take place in Södertälje on 29 March, Sunday to protest the ISIS gangs and to support those resisting in Til Temir and Heseke, and called on all the Turkish, Kurdish, Assyrian, Syriac and Chaldean people living in Sweden to join the rally to protest the ISIS.

In the meantime, Robert Halef, deputy from Christian Democrats, carried the attacks of the ISIS gangs in Til Temir and Heseke to Swedish parliament by submitting a parliamentary question and said the resolution of the EU to establish a safe haven in the region must urgently be put into practice.

Halef drew attention to the fact that the Assyrian-Syriac- Chaldean community had to flee away from their lands since the beginning of the occupation of Iraq in 2003, and that the number of those who had to leave the Middle East has reached 500 thousand since the start of the civil war in Syria.

Halef further recalled that 250 thousand Assyrians took refuge in Federal Kurdistan Region in the last year after fleeing away from the attacks of the ISIS gangs, and added that he saw in the meetings he held with the KRG authorities that the KRG is positive about the establishment of safe zone in the region as well as the ambassadors of many countries of the region in Stockholm.

The Christian Democrats MP said he visited the refugee camps in Iraq together with the EP MEP Lars Adukson and added that the Assyrian and Syriac people in the camps were desperate as the Baghdad government has taken no military measures to protect them.

Halef further stressed that the attacks of the ISIS gangs on the Christian communities in the Middle East must be recognised as “genocide” by the UN, adding that the UN, the EU and the Swedish government must take urgent actions to stop this ongoing genocide and to ensure the security of the oppressed peoples in Iraq and Syria.‏