Iraqi protesters defy top cleric
BAGHDAD, Jan 26, (AP): Hundreds of anti-government protesters flooded the streets of Iraq’s capital and southern provinces on Sunday, defying a powerful Iraqi religious leader who recently withdrew his support from the popular movement.
Security forces fired tear-gas and live rounds to disperse the crowds from the capital’s Khilani Square, medical and security officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
At least 22 demonstrators were reported wounded by Iraqi security forces, as the street rallies continued to grow in size.
The mass protests started in October over widespread government corruption and a lack of public services and jobs. They quickly grew into calls for sweeping changes to Iraq’s political system that was imposed after the 2003 US invasion. Iraqi security forces have responded harshly. At least 500 protesters have been killed since the unrest began.
Iraq also has been roiled by US-Iran tensions that threatened a regional war after an American drone strike this month killed top Iranian Gen Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad.
The US attack pushed the Shiite cleric and political leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, to turn his influence toward demanding an American troop withdrawal. He also dropped his support for the antigovernment movement on Friday.
Hundreds of protesters, mostly students, marched Sunday through key squares in the capital and southern Iraq to show their continued support for the antigovernment movement, despite al-Sadr’s reversal of position.
“The demonstrations have become stronger now because of what happened,” said Zaidoun, 26, a protest organizer in Baghdad.
Many demonstrators chanted slogans against the populist preacher. The movement opposes Iraq’s sectarian system and both US and Iranian influence in Iraqi affairs.
Some protesters were worried, however, that the departure of al-Sadr’s supporters and his militia members from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the hub of the protest movement, could spark a renewed security crackdown.
On Saturday, hours after al-Sadr’s supporters left protest sites in Baghdad and some southern cities, including Basra, security forces swooped in to clear areas of demonstrators and torch their sit-in tents. At least four protesters were killed in the crackdown.
With al-Sadr out of the picture, protesters said the only top leader on their side was Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most revered Shiite cleric. Many said they were hoping his weekly Friday sermon would boost morale ahead of a major planned protest for Jan 31.
The German military resumed training Iraqi troops in the country’s Kurdish north on Sunday, about three weeks after it was suspended following the US killing of a top Iranian general in Baghdad.
The military said the commander of the international operation fighting the Islamic State group lifted the suspension. Germany resumed training in Irbil on Sunday morning together with its partners. The Bundeswehr has about 90 soldiers in Irbil.
However, Germany’s training mission in central Iraq is still suspended and there was no immediate word on whether or when it might resume. Germany flew 35 soldiers out of Iraq from bases in Taji and Baghdad on Jan 7, most of them to neighboring Jordan. That was described as a temporary measure.
The decision was made after the Jan 3 killing by the United States of Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Soleimani drastically raised regional tensions and escalated a crisis between Washington and Tehran.