"Protesters were attacked by armed and masked gunnies at around 02:30 am (2330 GMT). Tents were burned, personal equipment destroyed or stolen and around 30 nabbed," a Press TV correspondent in Sulaymanieh reported early Monday.
The anti-government demonstrators were determined to continue their protest despite the fact that security forces had issued an alert that "they would not be responsible if anything happened to those who remained in the town square at night."
Although the protesters were forced to leave Sara Square, neither the attacks nor the cold night air were able to deter hundreds of demonstrators from camping out in the city.
The anti-government demonstrators hope that their protests will finally convince the government to listen to their demands for better living conditions and ending food and electricity shortages. The recent government crackdown on protests in the Iraqi Kurdistan region has angered the people of Sulaymanieh.
Over the past two weeks, seven people have been killed and more than 200 injured during festivities between police forces and protesters, while 220 more have been nabbed.
The crackdown has also led many Kurds to reject the call from the region's President Massoud Barzani
... hereditary head of the Kurdish Democratic Party, maybe a little too close to the Medes and the Persians for most people's tastes...
for early elections.
Following the announcement on Friday, thousands flocked to the town square to continue their daily protests, reflecting their lack of faith in Barzani's words.