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PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHMOS
DE RUEHKUK #0040 0530950
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P R 220950Z FEB 06
FM REO KIRKUK
TO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0491
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0528
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHKUK/REO KIRKUK 0555

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIRKUK 000040 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
BAGHDAD FOR POLMIL, POL, PAO AND NCT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  2/22/2016 
TAGS: PGOV KISL PHUM KDEM PINS IZ
SUBJECT: (U) BA'QUBAH CARTOON DEMONSTRATION LARGEST IN OVER A YEAR 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Scott Dean, Regional Coordinator (Acting), Reo 
Kirkuk, Department of State . 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1. (U) This is a SET Ba'qubah cable. 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY.  A February 19 demonstration in Ba'qubah 
protesting Danish cartoons and the alleged 2004 British beating 
of students in al-Amarah amassed one of the largest crowds 
Ba'qubah has seen in a demonstration to date.  The numbers may 
imply a considerable degree of popular interest in the cartoons; 
a more proximate reason for the large crowd may be the 
participation, for the first time, of secondary school students 
(who formed a substantial majority of the overall number of 
protesters) in the protest.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3. (U) On the morning of February 19, a large crowd of 
demonstrators gathered in downtown Ba'qubah carrying banners 
with religious slogans written on them and chanting against the 
Danish cartoons and the alleged abuse by British forces against 
students (recently released on video).  All of our involved 
contacts, both within and outside of the demonstration, have 
assured us that there were no anti-American slogans on the 
banners or in the chants.  Counts of the crowd ranged from 500 
to 2000, but the estimates of most of our contacts put the 
number of demonstrators at approximately 1200.  U.S. Army 
estimates put the crowd at well under 1000.  The protest was 
generally peaceful, though the crowd threw rocks on two 
occasions - at SET convoy (on its way to a meeting that was 
aborted, as the crowd was blocking the road) and later at a 
convoy of CF military police. 
 
¶4. (C) Two student organizations were behind the February 19 
demonstration: the IIP-dominated Diyala University Student Union 
(Diyala IIP Chairman Hamdi al-Zubaydi denies any IIP 
foreknowledge of or involvement in the demonstration) and the 
Student and Youth Guild, a Diyala-wide organization 
incorporating students of intermediate schools, secondary 
schools, and vocational institutes whose members range in age 
from 15 to 45.  Unsurprisingly, the demonstrators (as at almost 
all demonstrations in Ba'qubah) were drawn primarily from the 
membership of these two groups.  Diyala University Student Union 
President Ra'ad Majid claims to have been taken by surprise 
(NOTE: though he clearly seemed gratified) by the size of the 
demonstration and the level of media coverage that it had 
received.  Diyala Governor Ra'ad al-Mullah Jawad al-Timimi, who 
had granted the protest organizers a permit, had calculated in a 
February 15 meeting with SET that 100-150 protesters would show 
up.  Diyala IIP Chairman Hamdi Hassun al-Zubaydi denies any 
advance knowledge of the demonstration - much IIP less support. 
 
¶5. (C) COMMENT: The size of the February 19 demonstration 
appears to have surprised all involved - for good reason. 
Previous demonstrations protesting emotionally charged events, 
such as the November 12 arrest of 300 Sunni leaders by the MOI 
and the MARAM protests against the December election results, 
produced crowds of a few hundred at most.   The cartoon protest 
likely drew larger-than-average numbers of the usual suspects 
(university students, young adults, etc.).  However, the 
addition of intermediate and secondary school students - the 
majority of the crowd - is what raised the size of the crowd to 
such an impressive (for Ba'qubah) level.  (This may also explain 
the relatively undisciplined nature of their behavior towards CF 
vehicles.)  We expect to see more participation by the Student 
and Youth Guild in future demonstrations, and perhaps increased 
competition among the political parties in Diyala over the 
Guild's leadership. END COMMENT. 
 
ORESTE