Death toll climbs as Iraq unrest hits Baghdad’s Sadr City
At least 15 people were killed in clashes between Iraqi security forces and protesters in Baghdad’s Sadr City district on Sunday night as violence from a week-long nationwide uprising swept through the vast, poor swath of the capital for the first time.
At least 110 people have been killed across Iraq and more than 6,000 wounded, with protesters demanding the removal of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and a government they accuse of corruption.
The spread of the violence into Sadr City on Sunday night poses a new security challenge for authorities dealing with the worst violence in the country since Daesh was defeated nearly two years ago. Unrest is historically difficult to put down in Sadr City, a volatile district where about a third of Baghdad’s 8 million people live in narrow alleys, many with little access to electricity, water and jobs.
The uprising over the past week has abruptly ended two years of relative calm unseen in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Many Iraqis, especially young people, say entrenched government corruption means they received no benefit from returning stability after years of foreign occupation and sectarian civil war.
Critics say the government’s fierce response to the protests has enflamed the public rage.
Reuters journalists have witnessed protesters being killed and wounded by snipers from the security forces firing into crowds from rooftops though the Interior Ministry denies government forces have shot directly at protesters. The internet has been shut down across the country, leading to a communications vacuum that allows discontent to spread. “The crackdown plus the internet blackout are angering people and it won’t calm the situation,” Jassim Al-Hilfi, a lawmaker from the bloc of populist opposition cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr who is boycotting parliament, told Reuters.
“People will not be silenced, and the politicians are not capable of meeting their demands.” President Barham Salih, whose role is normally above the day-today political fray, called on the armed forces to abide by rules of engagement and avoid using live ammunition.
“... Our armed forces which have protected the country and the people in the most serious confrontations with terrorism, are also capable of protecting citizens and their peaceful democratic practices in conditions of peace,” Salih’s office quoted him as saying. Demonstrators have been calling for “the downfall of the regime,” echoing demands in Arab Spring protests that swept across the Middle East in 2011. It is unclear how their demands could be met by sectarian parties that have dominated the country since Saddam’s fall and show no sign of willingness to relinquish control.
Those parties control armed militia which gained influence in the war against Daesh. They also have strong backing from Iran, creating a potential international dimension to the crisis in a country that is a client and ally of both Tehran and its biggest foe, Washington.