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IRAQ-POLITICS-PROTESTS
Schools shut across southern Iraq in bid to revive protests
BAGHDAD, Nov 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Most schools in southern Iraq were
closed on Tuesday, after teachers announced a general strike in an attempt to
boost the protest movement that has rocked the country since October 1.
In recent days, security forces have sought to crack down on rallies, but
protesters have kept up the movement with sit-ins across the capital and
Shiite-majority south.
In the southern city of Kut, hundreds of people streamed into the streets
and shut down schools and public offices.
In Hilla, schools were closed for lack of staff and government offices
reduced their opening hours.
Most schools were closed too in Nasiriyah and Diwaniyah, two southern
cities that have played a major role in the protests.
And in the capital, teenage boys skipped class to face off against security
forces in commercial districts around the main protest site of Tahrir
(Liberation) Square.
On Monday, protesters had managed to breach the concrete blast walls
erected by the security forces to to seal Tahrir off from neighbouring
Khallani Square.
But on Tuesday morning, the walls were up again and security personnel
positioned behind them fired stun grenades at the young protesters on the
other side, who scattered briefly before returning to their posts.
“Our country is dearer to me than my only child,” read one slogan daubed on
the street, where the usually bustling mechanics’ shops remained closed.
In Tahrir itself, dozens of protesters kept up their nearly three-week
occupation of the square and nearby buildings.
Young people make up 60 percent of Iraq’s population of nearly 40 million
and youth unemployment stands at 25 percent, according to the World Bank.
The lack of jobs for school-leavers was one of the driving forces behind
the protests that erupted on October 1 and swiftly escalated with calls for a
wholesale overhaul of the political system.
Demonstrators say government and state sector jobs are handed out based on
bribes or nepotism, not merit.
The government has faced widespread international criticism for the size of
the death toll from protest-related violence which exceeds 300 in six weeks.
BSS/AFP/RY/1558 hrs