35 protesters shot dead in southern Iraq
Violence centred in cities with Shiite majorities and alleged ties to Iran Anti-government protesters set a fire in Baghdad, forcing police to close the street, on Thursday.
BAGHDAD— Iraqi security officers opened fire on protesters in southern Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 35, as the government sought to quell violence that started with an attack on the Iranian Consulate in Najaf, but then spread to other areas in the country’s south.
During the day, the violence centred on the southern city of Nasiriyah, where Wednesday the government had sent additional security forces to try to halt what had become daily violence there.
But early Thursday, instead of using tear gas or sound bombs, the hard-line reinforcements from the Interior Ministry’s Quick Reaction Forces opened fire on mostly unarmed protesters as they held a sit-in, killing at least 25 and wounding 160, according to a report from the Dhi Qar governor’s office and the Iraqi security forces’ Joint Operational Command.
Later in the day, violence resulting in at least 10 more deaths resumed in Najaf and Karbala, the location of the country’s two most venerated Shiite Muslim shrines. In Najaf, the seat of the most senior Shiite clergy, protesters on Wednesday had set upon the Iranian Consulate, throwing gasoline bombs and chanting anti-Iranian slogans.
On Thursday, the protesters attacked one of the city’s most significant shrines and the riot forces and popular mobilization forces defending the site drove the demonstrators back using live fire, witnesses said.
In Karbala, there were clashes in the evening and demonstrators hurled at least two grenades at the Iraqi security forces, injuring 19, police there said.
The attacks and unrest are part of a series of anti-government protests and riots that have broken out in recent weeks in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. In all three countries, the protesters have targeted government institutions or military figures viewed as connected to Iran.
Shiite Iran has sought to extend its influence in all three countries in the years since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq severely diminished the power of Sunni governments and factions.
The onslaught in Nasiriyah against unarmed protesters infuriated many people, inciting them to join the protests and causing an outcry among both local political figures and, more significantly, tribal leaders.
Some armed tribal leaders joined the protesters Thursday.
The tribes represent a formidable force, but so far have mostly refrained from entering the fray. If they did rally in force to the side of the protesters, the government could have trouble maintaining control.
The governor of Dhi Qar province, of which Nasiriyah is the capital, asked Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi to withdraw the Interior Ministry forces and their commander, Lt.-Gen. Jamil al-Shammari, who ordered the troops to remove protesters from the bridges over the Euphrates River that they had blocked. He had overseen the shooting.
“The ongoing campaign, with its bloody incidents since dawn, has obstructed efforts to calm down the situation, especially after our joint decision with the police command to withdraw the anti-riot forces outside the limits of Nasiriyah city and not to clash with the demonstrators,” the governor, Adil al-Dikhili, wrote to Mehdi.
The governor was referring to his strategy during the past two weeks to try to accommodate the protesters who had set up tents blocking two of the bridges over the Euphrates River and to avoid clashes by having the Quick Reaction Forces withdraw rather than stay in the city centre.
By late Thursday, the military commander in charge of the forces in Nasiriyah, who had been sent there just a few days earlier to rein in the protesters, had been recalled to Baghdad. The Dhi Qar provincial governor, al-Dikhili, had resigned.
“It is a dishonor to be part of this system that kills the people of my own country,” he said.