They have blocked the main roads into town and set up checkpoints, looking for gunmen loyal to the government.
Determined to find food, and now looking like a Russian peasant, he passed through several Soviet checkpoints looking for something to eat.
In response, a now removed Facebook page calling for Arabs to be expelled from Iraqi Kurdistan quickly racked up thousands of likes, while a number of protests with the same demands were held, including one in Erbil which reportedly involved makeshift checkpoints looking for Arabs.
It seemed a fine place for a pair of newly minted Kosovo police patrolmen to park their shiny cruiser on a recent evening and set up a checkpoint, to look for stolen cars and hidden weapons.
Hours after crowds showered them with flowers and money as they entered the city, the officer and his soldiers began operating a checkpoint to look for goods and weapons stolen from Taliban bases.
A nine-year-old described being sexually abused with his friend by two French soldiers at the IDP camp when they went to a checkpoint to look for something to eat.
Police have since cleared the area, roping it off, and have set up an information checkpoint for family members looking for loved ones.
What if the only statehood Bush offers leaves Israelis at checkpoints between Palestinian cities looking for suicide bombers?
Their extended family — 15 people in all, including 5 women and 4 children — were waiting, too, ready for a dash north to the border, a journey made in multiple cars with a scout traveling ahead, looking for checkpoints or patrols and relaying information by cellphone.
