Would-be premier makes youth see red
Baghdad – Furious antigovernment youth dug in their heels in Iraq’s capital and south yesterday, rejecting the previous evening’s nomination of Mohammad Allawi as premier after months of demonstrations and political paralysis.
Allawi was named prime minister-designate after a hard-won consensus among Iraq’s rival parties, who had struggled to agree on a candidate since outgoing premier Adel Abdel Mahdi resigned under growing street pressure two months ago.
Mass rallies have rocked Baghdad and the mainly Shiite south since October, with protesters demanding snap elections and an independent prime minister, as well as accountability for corruption and recent bloodshed.
Young demonstrators have expressed contempt for the ruling elite and yesterday, they slammed Allawi – a former lawmaker and minister – as part and parcel of the system they want to overhaul.
“Mohammad Allawi is rejected, by order of the people!” read a new sign hung in Najaf.
Young men with their faces wrapped in checkered scarves had spent the night torching car tyres in anger at Allawi’s nomination.
Smouldering remains still blocked main roads yesterday.
In Diwaniyah, further south, protesters marched into government buildings to demand they close for the day while students began sit-ins at schools and universities.
Protesters in Hillah blocked off all roads leading into the city and chanted “Allawi is not the people’s choice!”
In Baghdad, hundreds of students flooded the streets around the main protest camp of Tahrir Square, carrying Allawi’s photograph with an X over his face.
Allawi, 65, served as a parliamentarian immediately after the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled ex-dictator Saddam Hussein, then was twice appointed communications minister under former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki.
But he resigned both times, accusing Maliki of turning a blind eye to graft in a country considered among the top 20 most corrupt in the world by Transparency International.
His appointment came after days of crisis talks prompted by President Barham Saleh. – AFP