Freerunners find their feet in Baghdad

Baghdad's parkour team practice in Zawra park in the city's center. "We are a small group of young people and there are no parkour classes," says Prince Haydar.

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Iraq's freerunners

Iraq's freerunners

Iraq's freerunners

Iraq's freerunners

Iraq's freerunners

Iraq's freerunners

Iraq's freerunners

Iraq's freerunners

Iraq's freerunners

Iraq's freerunners

Iraq's freerunners

Iraq's freerunners

Iraq's freerunners

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(CNN) -- Leaping from rooftops and doing backflips off walls is when Prince Haydar feels the most free.

The 25-year-old from Baghdad is one of the city's small band of freerunners, who take every opportunity to practice parkour in a city striving for normality and currently facing a resurgence of deadly violence.

"When I do parkour, I get rid of all the scattered thoughts in my head and empty all the anger from inside me," said Haydar.

From the streets of Paris in the 1990s, where parkour was first popularized, to Zawra park in Iraq's capital, freerunning has become a global phenomenon. The sport evolved from French military training and involves running through urban environments using only the body to overcome obstacles and objects.

In Baghdad, the challenges are even greater than in other cities. Haydar says his fellow freerunners have to contend with a public unsure of what to make of a group running and leaping through the city's largest public park. There is also the threat of bomb attacks and indiscriminate violence in the city.

"It is dangerous and it is difficult to practice parkour anywhere," he says. "Sometimes we are exposed to arrested or misunderstanding from some people and there is the deteriorating security situation."

But despite these challenges, Haydar is committed to improving in his sport, and teaching its benefits to others. He was first turned on to freerunning in 2007 when he watched the film "District B13" that featured parkour in many of its stunt sequences. Inspired, he sought out internet clips of the sport in order to learn parkour techniques.

"We are a small group of young people and there are no parkour classes," he says, noting that the group -- aged between 18 and 25 -- support and teach each other, going as far as pooling their money to rent a gym.

"It's small and does not meet the purpose," he says. "It's very far from our homes, but despite of all these difficult circumstances we go."

"I love parkour because this sport is the art of movement and freedom and this art has made me know true freedom in this difficult life."