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IRAQ-POLITICS
Calls for restraint after deadly Iraq protests
BAGHDAD, Oct 2, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Iraq’s president and the United Nations
urged security forces to show restraint on Wednesday after two protesters
were killed in clashes with police that other top officials blamed on
“infiltrators.”
Hundreds took to the streets of the capital and cities across the south on
Tuesday in the first major challenge to the government, formed a year ago
this month.
Security forces fired tear gas and live rounds to disperse the crowds,
leaving one dead and 200 wounded in Baghdad and another protester dead in the
south, health officials said.
The violence drew condemnation from President Barham Saleh, who urged
“restraint and the respect for the law”.
“Peaceful protest is a constitutional right granted to citizens,” he said
late Tuesday.
And the UN’s top official in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, expressed
“grave concern” on Wednesday, saying she “deeply regrets the casualties”.
She urged authorities to “exercise restraint in their handling of the
protests”.
The demonstrators in Tahrir Square in the heart of Baghdad voiced a range
of grievances — state corruption, failing public services, unemployment and
even the sidelining of a popular Iraqi general last week.
Unusually for Iraq, no political faction had explicitly called for the
protest, which appeared to be largely spontaneous.
By early evening, it had degenerated into violence, with riot police using
tear gas and water cannons and then opening fire with live and rubber bullets
to disperse the crowds.
Heavy gunfire could be heard into the night around Tahrir Square. It was
not clear if bullets were fired directly at protesters or into the air.
On Wednesday morning, Tahrir Square remained sealed off by a heavy police
presence.
Parliament has ordered an investigation into the violence. Its human
rights committee has already criticised security forces for their
“suppression” of the demonstrations.
Interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan told state media on Tuesday that
“infiltrators were behind the violent acts in the protests today.”
And in his first comments on the demonstrations, Prime Minister Adel Abdel
Mahdi paid tribute to the security forces, blaming the violence on
“aggressors who… deliberately created casualties”.
His statement drew widespread online criticism, as some other politicians
had thrown their weight behind the protesters.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1437 hrs