After the IS group took over, no restaurants or cafes opened during the day in Ramadan. The owners knew they would end up dead, probably strung up on a power pole, if they opened.
This month though, the local police are not enforcing any such rules about fasting. On the contrary, they appear to be more focused on keeping the restaurants that do open safe from any further extremist attacks. There is still fierce fighting going on in parts of the city that the extremists still control, where thousands of civilians are still trapped and potentially starving.
The police have issued a number of rules to keep Mosul safe. This includes a ban on the niqab, the full-face veil for women that the IS group demanded. There are fears that the extremists will use this as a disguise to launch attacks against civilians.
The police have also urged restaurant owners to check their customers carefully during Ramadan – the eateries would make good targets for the extremists.
It is clear to locals that there is more freedom in the city than there was before the IS group took over. Some are welcoming these signs of secularism. Then again, as others say, the situation here is still unstable; nobody knows how long these newfound freedoms will last.
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