A newly-established council for guards on strike issued a statement the previous day saying that protests will be held in Erbil, Sulaimani, Garmyan, and Raparin, NRT reported.

“It has been three years that we have been subjected to unjust treatment and discrimination by withholding our salaries by 65 percent,” the statement read.

Employees' salaries, not including the police guards, would be cut by a reduced amount of 10 to 30 percent, which had been 15 to 75 percent under the previous system, according to the revised salary withholding system.

The council said security guards will resume strikes and boycott working until their demands are met.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) owes public servants’ salaries for September, October, November, and December 2015 and December 2017.

Salaries for Kurdish employees have been plagued by delays since 2014 and Kurdish authorities have repeatedly said they cannot make payments due to the security and economic crises affecting the region.

Reporter’s code: 50101