Violent protests bring Baghdad to standstill
IRAQ’S capital Baghdad was paralysed yesterday as tens of thousands of demonstrators burned tyres and blocked major thoroughfares in an escalation of major anti-government protests.
Crowds obstructed roads with wooden pallets, barbed wire and by burning old furniture. Large numbers gathered in the central Tahrir Square and other protesters occupied a bridge in the heavily fortified Green Zone.
Some held up a banner reading “Roads closed by order of the people”, amid calls for an end to the political system established in the aftermath of the 2003 Us-led invasion.
More than 250 people have been killed since the demonstrations began a month ago, as security forces have fired live rounds at protesters as well as tear gas and rubber bullets.
A government inquiry last month alleged security forces had used excessive force. Since that report was released, another 100 people have died.
On Saturday, Adil Abdul-mahdi, the Iraqi prime minister, underlined the need to preserve the safety of protesters in a meeting with security officials.
The same day, unknown assailants abducted Siba al-mahdawi, an activist and physician who had offered medical care to protesters.
The semi-official Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights called on the government and security forces to reveal Ms al-mahdawi’s location, but no more is known of her whereabouts.
Despite Ms al-mahdawi’s disappearance and the rising levels of violence, demonstrators have grown bolder, criticising not just their own leaders and political system, but the Iranian forces that underpin this country. In unprecedented displays of anti-iran sentiment, demonstrators chanted: “Out, out, Iran! Baghdad will stay free!”
Footage showed Iraqis hitting pictures of Qassem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, with their
‘Concessions won’t do it this time. The only thing that will change the situation is true revolution’
shoes, a scathing insult in Arab culture.
The vast majority of demonstrators are young. The country is experiencing what demographers call a “youth bulge”, with young people making up a large proportion of the population.
Their prospects are bleak. Despite the country’s petroleum wealth and the lavish spending of the political elite, young Iraqis have a one in five chance of living below the poverty line. One in four are unemployed.
Analysts believe that these young people are unlikely to compromise with the government, as they seek the dismantling of the political system installed after the Us-led invasion, which is riddled with corruption and lacks accountability.
“Concessions won’t do it this time. The only thing that will change the situation is true revolution, but I don’t think we are there yet,” said Abdulla Hawez, a researcher on the region.
“The protesters want radical change, but the ruling class would lose everything if such change came to pass. What’s being offered is some sort of symbolic change or early elections, but recent years have shown that elections are not a solution in Iraq.”