TUK-TUK DRIVERS TO THE RESCUE FOR IRAQI PROTESTERS

▶ The heroes to the injured swerve their vehicles through the chaos, writes Pesha Magid in Baghdad

Karad Hussein is once again on the front lines of the anti-government protests undermining Iraq, not to confront the authorities but as one of an army of tuk-tuk drivers and volunteers helping injured protesters.

“This is our duty, if I didn’t carry them who would carry them?” says Mr Hussein, 24, in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square where Iraqis have been rallying since Friday in a second wave of demonstrations this month. “Is there anyone else who can take them?”

Tuk-tuk drivers have become the unexpected heroes of the protests that began on October 1. Swerving their three-wheelers through the explosions and smoke from stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired by security forces, they ferry the casualties to ambulances waiting outside the square.

More than 150 people died and thousands were injured in a violent crackdown by security forces during a week of demonstrations to denounce official corruption and a lack of services and jobs. Dozens more have died since the protests resumed on Friday.

Mr Hussein says he has been helping the protesters since demonstrations began. “I came even when there were many martyrs,” he says. “Snipers killed two of our community, shooting them in the head.”

“The role of the tuk-tuks is to carry the injured and the martyred,” says Mohamed Ahmed, 17, another tuk-tuk driver. “The ambulances were not entering.”

He says he came to help because he considers the protesters his brothers and his sisters.

Mr Hussein says the tuk-tuk drivers have also been targeted by security forces. “On the first day I was at the gate to the Green Zone they attacked us, a group of tuk-tuk drivers,” he says, referring to a high-security area adjoining Tahrir Square where government buildings and embassies are located. “Why? There is nothing, this is peaceful.”

Mr Ahmed points to his vehicle. “They hit me and broke my windshield with tear gas,” he says.

The men come from Sadr City, one of Baghdad’s largest and most impoverished neighbourhoods where large areas lack basic services including electricity, water and paved roads. Young people from Sadr City have joined the protests in droves to demonstrate against the dire economic conditions.

The tuk-tuk drivers not only rescue injured protesters but also take them food and supplies gathered by a growing number of volunteers.

Sajad Tahseen, 20, is a photographer and an aspiring journalist from Sadr City, but yesterday he was riding along in a friend’s tuk-tuk filled with boxes of food and Pepsi to help distribute them to protesters.

“It’s enough, we’re done with the government. It’s been there for 15 years and has done nothing for us,” Mr Tahseen says. “On the blood of the martyrs, they will go.”

Protesters use the Pepsi to reduce the irritation to their eyes caused by tear gas. The volunteers also send out free bottles of water, sandwiches, face masks and even goggles.

Fatima Imad, 29, came from Diyala province with five friends to bring supplies to yesterday’s protests in Baghdad. “Of course, there are people who want to help them [the protesters], so they helped us with money to buy things,” she says. “I made bread at home to bring to them.”

She sits near the entrance to Tahrir Square mixing yeast with water, another remedy for protesters affected by tear gas. Every 15 minutes or so the security forces fire another volley of tear gas, sending the crowds running down Saadoun Street. Fatima stands at the ready, passing out her bottles of yeast water, gauze, water and face masks.

She says her home province witnessed one of the heaviest crackdowns during the first round of protests and it is no longer possible for her to protest there. “It was like a civil war in our district,” she says.

But Ms Imad did not give up. She and her team of five women organised a car full of supplies, packed up and came to the protests in Baghdad.