Iraqi security personnel were out in force on Friday, cracking down violently on public demonstrations across the country, rallies that suggest the relative calm of recent days may be giving way to more protests.
The Iraqi High Commission on Human Rights has reported that 42 people were killed Friday, and six more Saturday, and over 2,300 injured in the crackdowns, as police fired tear gas into crowds and charged into waves of protesters in Tahrir Square.
Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi made a late-night television address trying to calm the protests planned for Friday, insisting he understands their complaints and will remedy them. The protesters have heard that before, and people in the streets told reporters that anger over corruption remains a major driving force for them, and had them marching on the Green Zone, even as police desperately tried to drive them off.
While the government seems determined to try to maintain control by force, Iraq’s top religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani chided them in his latest sermon on Friday, calling on security personnel to use restraint, and warning that the chaos of these crackdowns only invites more foreign meddling.
Published at https://news.antiwar.com/2019/10/25/dozens-killed-thousands-wounded-as-iraq-cracks-down-on-protests/
