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Iraq: Protesters Burn Pro-Iran Militia Group’s Headquarter


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Iraq: Protesters Burn Pro-Iran Militia Group’s Headquarter

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Angry protesters stormed a headquarter belonging to pro-Iran Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia group in Najaf.

Local reports said several dozens of protesters forced the entry into the building and set it on fire.

They later blocked the roads leading to Najaf airport, setting dozens of tires on fire.

 

The Baghdad Post previously reported that some protesters used welding machines to solder the doors of several government departments in the holy Shia city.

 

https://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/Story/45577/Iraq-Protesters-Burn-Pro-Iran-Militia-Group-s-Headquarter

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Iraq protests swell; slow pace of reforms irks youth

 

Iraqi youth angry at their government's glacial pace of reform ramped up their protests on Sunday, sealing streets with burning tyres and threatening further escalation unless their demands are met.

The rallies demanding an overhaul of the ruling system have rocked Shiite-majority parts of Iraq since October, but had thinned out in recent weeks amid rising Iran-US tensions.

Protesters had feared Iraq would be caught in the middle of the geopolitical storm and last Monday gave the government one week to make progress on reform pledges.

A day before the deadline expires, hundreds of angry young people descended on the main protest camp in Baghdad's Tahrir Square as well as nearby Tayaran Square.

They burned tires to block highways and bridges, turning back cars and causing traffic jams across the city.

At least 10 people including police officers were wounded when security forces tried to clear the sit-ins with tear gas and protesters responded by throwing rocks, medical and security sources told AFP.

"This is only the first escalation," one protester with a scarf wrapped around his face told AFP, as smoke from the tires turned the sky behind him a charcoal grey.

"We want to send a message to the government: Stop procrastinating! The people know what you're doing," he said, adding ominously: "Tomorrow the deadline ends, and then things could get totally of control."

Protesters are demanding early elections based on a reformed voting law, a new prime minister to replace current caretaker premier Adel Abdel Mahdi and that officials deemed corrupt be held to account.

Abdel Mahdi resigned nearly two months ago, but political parties have thus far failed to agree on a successor and he has continued to run thegovernment as a caretaker.

Demonstrators have publicly rejected the names circulating as possible replacements and are furious that other sweeping reform measures have not been implemented.

"We began to escalate today because thegovernment did not respond to our demands, notably forming an independent government that could save Iraq," said Haydar Kadhim, a demonstrator in the southern protest hotspot of Nasiriyah.

"Last Monday, we gave them a deadline of seven days. That deadline ends tonight," Kadhim told AFP.

A fellow protester, 20-year-old university student Mohammad Kareem, said more escalation could come.

"We gave the government a timeframe to implement our demands, but it looks like it doesn't care one bit," he said.

"We will keep up our movement and keep escalating to confront this government, which continues to procrastinate," Kareem told AFP.

Rallies also swelled in the cities of Kut, Diwaniyah and Amara, where most government offices, schools and universities have been shuttered for months.

In Najaf, youth wrapped in checkered black-and-white scarves and carrying Iraqi flags lit tyres and began a sit-in on a main road leading to the capital.

Further the south in the oil-rich port city of Basra, students gathered in an ongoing strike insupport of the rallies elsewhere.

The protests are the largest and bloodiest grassroots movement in Iraq in decades, with nearly 460 people dead and over 25,000 wounded since they erupted on Oct. 1.

While the violence at the protests themselves has dropped slightly, activists say they face an escalating campaign of intimidation, kidnapping and assassination attempts.

Young protesters are also apprehensive about a rival protest on Jan. 24 organised by firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr in order to pressure US forces to leave.

Last week, Sadr urged Iraqis to hold "a million-strong, peaceful, unified demonstration to condemn the American presence and its violations".

Iraqi political figures have ramped up their calls for foreign forces — including some 5,200 US troops — to leave the country following a US drone strike that killed Iran's revered Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani and top Iraqi militaryofficial Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis.

Both were key brokers in Iraq's political scene, which has been left reeling by their absence.

Iraq's parliament voted on Jan. 5 in favour of ousting foreign forces but the legal procedure for doing so remains murky.

Bases where US forces are stationed have been under a steady stream of rocket attacks for several months that have killed one another site and one Iraqi soldier.
 
 
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And with GOI on self ordered exile (6 weeks vacation) it doesn't look like any government action coming soon. They knew the protester's deadline was coming and skeeeee-daddled out of town. A pathetic, useless government at it's best. 

                                                                                                                   ;)

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Dozens of Iraqi protesters wounded as anti-government unrest resumes

Baghdad protests

Dozens of Iraqi protesters were wounded in Baghdad and other cities on Monday in clashes with security forces who were trying to clear blocked roads, security and medical sources said, as anti-government unrest resumed after a lull of several weeks. 

In Baghdad’s Tayaran Square overnight, protesters threw petrol bombs and stones at police who responded with tear gas and stun grenades, Reuters witnesses said. 

Elsewhere in southern Iraq, hundreds of protesters burned tyres and blocked main roads in several cities, including Nassiriya, Kerbala and Amara. They say Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has not fulfilled promises including naming a new government acceptable to Iraqis. 

“They (security forces) should stop shooting and aiming, who are they and who we are? Both sides are Iraqis. So why are you killing your brothers?” said one woman protester in Baghdad who declined to give her name. 

Baghdad police said its forces had successfully reopened all the roads that were closed by “violent gatherings”. 

Mass protests have gripped Iraq since Oct. 1, with mostly young protesters demanding an overhaul of a political system they see as profoundly corrupt and as keeping most Iraqis in poverty. More than 450 people have been killed. 

Numbers had dwindled but protests resumed last week as demonstrators sought to keep up momentum after attention turned to the threat of a U.S.-Iran conflict following Washington’s killing of Tehran’s top general in an air strike inside Iraq. 

The killing of Qassem Soleimani, to which Tehran responded with a ballistic missile attack on two Iraqi military bases, has highlighted the influence of some foreign powers in Iraq, especially Iran and the United States.

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Iraq's protests escalate as frustration grows over lack of reform

db95d60b7c754c76aad20805c5afcbe7-db95d60b7c754c76aad20805c5afcbe7-f843eec4be4847f5949de151786382f8-b93b8 Protesters in Iraq stepped up calls for reform on Monday as they clashed with security forces, with the United Nations urging for calm amid heightened tensions.

Protesters blocked roads that connect the capital Baghdad to southern provinces on Monday morning after dozens of people were injured overnight, The National reported.

The UN called for the demonstrations to remain peaceful and urged authorities to push for reform, and expressed concern about ongoing human rights violations. At least 600 people have been killed and thousands wounded since the protest movement began in early October.

“The killing and injury of peaceful protesters, combined with long years of undelivered promises, have resulted in a major crisis of confidence,” UN envoy to Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in a statement.

Protests also erupted in the southern provinces of Najaf, Dhi Qar, Karbala and Basra on Monday morning.

“Any steps taken so far to address the people’s concerns will remain hollow, if they are not completed. Domestic unity, cohesion and determination are urgently necessary to build resilience against narrow partisan interests, foreign interference and/or criminal elements that actively seek to hinder Iraq’s stability," Ms Hennis-Plasschaert said.

Security forces on Sunday fired tear gas to disperse crowds in Tayarn square and the nearby Sinak Bridge, which leads towards the fortified Green Zone that is home to diplomatic missions and government buildings. Dozens were wounded.

Protesters gave the government a deadline of one week to meet their demands for sweeping political reforms, or the demonstrations will escalate.

The development comes as parliament postponed a vital session on Sunday due to lack of quorum.

Officials were supposed to discuss the replacement of outgoing Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who resigned in late November, for his lack of response to meet protesters demands.

“Two months after the prime minister announced his resignation, political leaders remain unable to agree on the way forward,” said a statement by the UN mission to Iraq.

The next parliamentary session is expected to be held on Wednesday.
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UN calls for 'justice' for Iraqi protests victims

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Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, on Monday urged the Iraqi authorities to do everything to protect peaceful demonstrators, according to an official statement.

"Violent suppression of peaceful (Iraqi) protesters is intolerable and must be avoided at all costs. Nothing is more damaging than a climate of fear. Accountability and justice for victims is critical to building trust, legitimacy and resilience."

She calls on protesters to remain peaceful, avoiding counterproductive violence and destruction of property.

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46 minutes ago, Pitcher said:

Dozens of Iraqi protesters wounded as anti-government unrest resumes

Baghdad protests

Dozens of Iraqi protesters were wounded in Baghdad and other cities on Monday in clashes with security forces who were trying to clear blocked roads, security and medical sources said, as anti-government unrest resumed after a lull of several weeks. 

In Baghdad’s Tayaran Square overnight, protesters threw petrol bombs and stones at police who responded with tear gas and stun grenades, Reuters witnesses said. 

Elsewhere in southern Iraq, hundreds of protesters burned tyres and blocked main roads in several cities, including Nassiriya, Kerbala and Amara. They say Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has not fulfilled promises including naming a new government acceptable to Iraqis. 

“They (security forces) should stop shooting and aiming, who are they and who we are? Both sides are Iraqis. So why are you killing your brothers?” said one woman protester in Baghdad who declined to give her name. 

Baghdad police said its forces had successfully reopened all the roads that were closed by “violent gatherings”. 

Mass protests have gripped Iraq since Oct. 1, with mostly young protesters demanding an overhaul of a political system they see as profoundly corrupt and as keeping most Iraqis in poverty. More than 450 people have been killed. 

Numbers had dwindled but protests resumed last week as demonstrators sought to keep up momentum after attention turned to the threat of a U.S.-Iran conflict following Washington’s killing of Tehran’s top general in an air strike inside Iraq. 

The killing of Qassem Soleimani, to which Tehran responded with a ballistic missile attack on two Iraqi military bases, has highlighted the influence of some foreign powers in Iraq, especially Iran and the United States.

 

These guys could really use a 2nd amendment.

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4 hours ago, King Bean said:

And with GOI on self ordered exile (6 weeks vacation) it doesn't look like any government action coming soon. They knew the protester's deadline was coming and skeeeee-daddled out of town. A pathetic, useless government at it's best. 

                                                                                                                   ;)

KB not the GOI, its Parliament that is taking a vacation. The GOI is still "working" (and I use the term loosely)

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Ten Iraqi Protesters Killed in 24 Hours

Ten Iraqi Protesters Killed in 24 Hours

ERBIL - Iraq's High Commission of Human Rights revealed on Tuesday that ten protesters had been killed in 24 hours alone.

Ali Bayati, a member of the commission, said in a statement that a total of 159 other demonstrators were wounded in clashes with the security forces during the same period of time.

According to the human rights commission, over 500 protesters have so far been killed since the beginning of anti-government demonstrations in early October, while more than 20,000 others suffered from injures.

Meanwhile, Iraq's caretaker PM Adil Abdul Mahdi criticized on Tuesday the political parties for their failure in making a decision on a new premier for the country despite the expiration of several deadlines by the protesters in the past few weeks.

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Well it appears the peaceful demonstrations should come to an end. Time to start carrying AK-47s an grenades. Let’s burn this parliament building down, not used anyway. Moving on to the houses of present and former parliament members, burn them all down. CBI, here’s your warning. Give us a currency with some purchasing power or your next on the list. 

WOW, maybe I should go over there an be their leader being they don’t seem to have one...

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