Protests in Iraq leave another 7 dead

At least seven people were killed in Iraq yesterday in anti-government protests in Baghdad and other provinces in the country’s Shia-dominated south.

The dead include four protesters who were killed in the capital. The remaining deaths were in Basra and Nasiriyah and most occurred as a result of tear gas canisters fired directly at protesters, as well as rubber bullets and live ammunition.

The confrontations began after anti-government demonstrations resumed, following a three-week hiatus.

The protests began at the start of this month over corruption, unemployment and a lack of basic services. They quickly turned deadly as security forces cracked down, using live ammunition for days.

After the protests spread to several southern provinces, the authorities imposed a curfew and shut down the internet for days in an effort to quell the unrest.

Following a week of violence that left over 48 dead in the capital and the country’s southern provinces, a government-appointed inquiry into the protests earlier this month determined that security forces had then used excessive force, killing 157 people and wounding more than 6,100. Eight members of the security forces were also killed. The inquiry recommended the firing of security chiefs in Baghdad and the south.

The protests are economically driven, mostly leaderless and spontaneous against a sectarian-based system and a corrupt political class that is skirting on the brink of economic disaster. They threaten to plunge the country into a new cycle of instability that could be the most dangerous the conflict-scarred nation has faced.