Protesters throw rocks at security forces in Baghdad

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Police clashed with protesters in Baghdad on Monday after a few comparatively quiet days, resulting in 14 security troops suffering injuries from thrown rocks and complaints of excessive force leveled against police by the protesters.

As with several other protest movements around the world, the conflict appears to have begun when the protesters erected roadblocks in Baghdad and several other cities, and the police moved in to clear them away.

 

“A group of outlaw young people blocked the Muhammad al-Qasim highway on Monday at 8:30 am. Security forces reopened the highway, detained the group and transferred them to face justice,” said the authorities.

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“A group of violent hooligans started to throw rocks at the security members who were stationed near Tahrir Square to protect the peaceful protesters,” the media arm of Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) said when a battle broke out in the square at the heart of Baghdad.

According to the statement, several security troops were struck in the head by thrown rocks, while an officer was wounded in the leg.

The United Nations sounded doubtful of ISF claims that it was attempting to protect “peaceful protesters” in Tahrir Square when it was attacked by “hooligans” and obliged to defend itself.

“Violent suppression of peaceful 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,” said a statement from the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) on Monday.

U.N. Special Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert expressed her agency’s concern about “ongoing human rights violations” in Iraq.

“While there was public acknowledgment by all actors that urgent reform is needed, it is now high time to put these words into action and to avoid further derailing of these protests by those pursuing their own objectives, not wishing well for this country and its people,” Hennis-Plasschaert said in a statement that strongly sided with protesters against Iraq’s political and military elite.

Al Jazeera published unconfirmed reports that five protesters were killed on Monday in three different Iraqi cities. According to these reports, two of the deaths were caused by live ammunition in Baghdad.

“For months no one has listened to our demands. They are killing us. It’s just bloodshed,” one protester told Al Jazeera.

Protest leaders stated their intention to use more roadblocks as a method of getting the attention of Iraqi politicians, who missed a Monday deadline set by the protesters to begin implementing fundamental reforms.

“We demand the central government go to early elections and the nomination of a new independent prime minister. If that doesn’t happen, we will escalate and block all the highways and centres of the city,” a Baghdad demonstrator vowed.

“This is only the first escalation. We want to send a message to the government: Stop procrastinating. The people know what you’re doing,” another demonstrator told AFP as a wall of burning tires was erected across a major Baghdad bridge.

 

[trident]

Middle East

Sadr says he will now remain neutral in Iraqi protests

Kosar Nawzad |

4 hours ago

 

 

---

Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is seen praying between Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left) and then-commander of Iran’s Quds Force Qasim Soleimani (right) in Tehran, Sept. 10, 2019. (Photo: Khamenei's webpage)

 

Iraq Baghdad Iraq Protests

 

 

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) ­– Firebrand Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday said he would stand neutral amid ongoing anti-government protests, appearing to withdraw his support for the demonstrations that began in early October calling for the ouster of the ruling elite.

In a statement on his official twitter page, Sadr proclaimed success in mobilizing thousands of his supporters to partake in the “million-man” rally he called for to demand the expulsion of American forces from Iraq.

 

The Shiite cleric called for the march from his semi-permanent residence in Iran, where he studies religious sciences in the city of Qom.

Sadr, a self-styled nationalist who purports to be against any type of foreign intervention in Iraqi affairs, appears to be getting closer to Iran after a US airstrike killed top Iranian general Qasim Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a close associate of Soleimani.

Following the killings of the two influential figures, Shia lawmakers allied with Sadr and Iranian-backed militias held a parliamentary session and voted on a non-binding resolution that demanded the Iraqi government remove all foreign forces from Iraq.

To rally popular support for his cause, Sadr then called for the march against the presence of US forces soon after he met with leaders of a number of Iran-backed militias in Qom.

 

The influential cleric has repeatedly declared his support for anti-government protests that erupted in early October and have resulted in over 600 deaths amid an ongoing crackdown by security forces. While many questioned his backing—given the fact that his party leads one of two top blocs in the legislature—some welcomed it as moral support by a populist and self-described nationalist.

In a statement issued late Friday, Sadr expressed his regret for those who questioned him among the demonstrators in Baghdad and other provinces, saying, “I was their supporter after God, and I thought of them as supporters for me and Iraq.”

He continued, “However, from now on, I will try not to interfere with them, neither negatively or positively, until they take into account the fate of Iraq and its imminent danger.”

Sadr's supporters have already started to remove their tents from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square—which has been the epicenter of the demonstrations since they began in the capital—and in demonstration centers in Iraq's southern provinces.

Anti-government protesters rejected Sadr’s call for the anti-US march, which also included many anti-Israel slogans and continued their own separate demonstrations in Tahrir Square and other parts of the capital on Friday that resulted in the reported death of two protesters and 25 more wounded in clashes with security forces.

Witnesses said that the police used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse a protest when evening fell on the Muhammad al-Qasim Highway in the capital.

Protesters had blocked many roads in the capital after a deadline they set for the government to accept their demands for change expired. The forces, however, have re-opened these roads, with large convoys of them reportedly deployed to these areas to stop demonstrations. 

Editing by John J. Catherine

[Flamtap]

Extra, Extra read all about it.....The Man in the Middle, now as quiet as a church mouse!!!!!! 

[MyLadiesDaddy]

1 hour ago, Flamtap said:

Extra, Extra read all about it.....The Man in the Middle, now as quiet as a church mouse!!!!!! 

That's because he noticed that drone flying overhead. 

[ChuckFinley]

2 hours ago, trident said:

Middle East

Sadr says he will now remain neutral in Iraqi protests

Kosar Nawzad |

4 hours ago

 

 

---

Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is seen praying between Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left) and then-commander of Iran’s Quds Force Qasim Soleimani (right) in Tehran, Sept. 10, 2019. (Photo: Khamenei's webpage)

 

Iraq Baghdad Iraq Protests

 

 

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) ­– Firebrand Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday said he would stand neutral amid ongoing anti-government protests, appearing to withdraw his support system" rel="">support for the demonstrations that began in early October calling for the ouster of the ruling elite.

In a statement on his official twitter page, Sadr proclaimed success in mobilizing thousands of his supporters to partake in the “million-man” rally he called for to demand the expulsion of American forces from Iraq.

 

The Shiite cleric called for the march from his semi-permanent residence in Iran, where he studies religious sciences in the city of Qom.

Sadr, a self-styled nationalist who purports to be against any type of foreign intervention in Iraqi affairs, appears to be getting closer to Iran after a US airstrike killed top Iranian general Qasim Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a close associate of Soleimani.

Following the killings of the two influential figures, Shia lawmakers allied with Sadr and Iranian-backed militias held a parliamentary session and voted on a non-binding resolution that demanded the Iraqi government remove all foreign forces from Iraq.

To rally popular support system" rel="">support for his cause, Sadr then called for the march against the presence of US forces soon after he met with leaders of a number of Iran-backed militias in Qom.

 

The influential cleric has repeatedly declared his support system" rel="">support for anti-government protests that erupted in early October and have resulted in over 600 deaths amid an ongoing crackdown by security forces. While many questioned his backing—given the fact that his party leads one of two top blocs in the legislature—some welcomed it as moral support system" rel="">support by a populist and self-described nationalist.

In a statement issued late Friday, Sadr expressed his regret for those who questioned him among the demonstrators in Baghdad and other provinces, saying, “I was their supporter after God, and I thought of them as supporters for me and Iraq.”

He continued, “However, from now on, I will try not to interfere with them, neither negatively or positively, until they take into account the fate of Iraq and its imminent danger.”

Sadr's supporters have already started to remove their tents from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square—which has been the epicenter of the demonstrations since they began in the capital—and in demonstration centers in Iraq's southern provinces.

Anti-government protesters rejected Sadr’s call for the anti-US march, which also included many anti-Israel slogans and continued their own separate demonstrations in Tahrir Square and other parts of the capital on Friday that resulted in the reported death of two protesters and 25 more wounded in clashes with security forces.

Witnesses said that the police used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse a protest when evening fell on the Muhammad al-Qasim Highway in the capital.

Protesters had blocked many roads in the capital after a deadline they set for the government to accept their demands for change expired. The forces, however, have re-opened these roads, with large convoys of them reportedly deployed to these areas to stop demonstrations. 

Editing by John J. Catherine

RIGHT.