fter an hour, the team received a phone call that saying shooting and tear gas explosions had begun inside the square.  The husband of one of  the team's partners was in the hospital because of tear gas inhalation.  The team continued to receive phone calls from organizers still at the square who reporter that many of the demonstrators could not leave, because soldiers had surrounded them.

The team contacted the U.S. Consulate to report the situation.  The position of the U.S. is that the people have a right to hold nonviolent demonstrations without fear of attack by the Kurdistan government.  The Consulate has intervened a number of times in the past when armed soldiers threatened unarmed demonstrators.