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Iraq security forces clear streets stoking protester fears
BAGHDAD, Jan 25, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Iraqi security forces cleared anti-
government protesters from streets and squares in Baghdad and the south on
Saturday, AFP journalists reported, stoking protester fears their long-
running campaign risks being sidelined.
It came a day after populist politician Moqtada Sadr organised his own
mass rally demanding US troops leave Iraq before announcing that he would no
longer back the separate youth-dominated protest movement demanding sweeping
reform.
Within hours, security forces had stormed a protest camp in the southern
port city of Basra, forcibly dispersing activists, an AFP correspondent
reported.
Their tents were burned down and municipal staff could be seen clearing
the charred remains to reopen the square.
Many demonstrators were seen taking down tents in the cities of Hilla,
Diwaniyah, Kut and Amarah.
In the capital, security forces cleared sit-ins from Tayaran Square,
Mohammad Qasim highway and Ahrar Bridge, according to Baghdad military
command.
A medical source told AFP six protesters had been wounded.
Demonstrators had blocked off Tayaran Square and the Mohammad Qasim
highway in east Baghdad since Monday in an attempt to pressure the government
to enact long-awaited reforms.
Ahrar Bridge, which links east Baghdad to western districts that are home
to government buildings and embassies, had been partly occupied by protestors
in recent months.
Protesters in Baghdad’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square, the main rallying
point for the protesters, told AFP they heard live rounds and saw smoke bombs
on Saturday as police sought to pin them back.
The security forces did not storm the square and a police source told AFP
there was no plan to do so yet.
The protesters had long feared that if Sadr withdrew his support, they
would lose political cover.
Sadr, a militiaman-turned-cleric, is notorious for switching political
positions with dizzying speed.
He backed the protests from soon after they erupted in October and called
on the government to resign — even though he controls parliament’s largest
bloc and top ministerial posts.
On Friday, thousands of his supporters gathered in Baghdad after he called
for a rally to demand the departure of the 5,200 US troops in Iraq, after a
US drone strike in Baghdad killed top Iraqi and Iranian commanders this
month.
Sadr himself did not attend, but tweeted late Friday to hail the turnout
and say he would no longer be involved in the protesters’ campaign for
reform.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1614 hrs