Clashes Erupt in Baghdad as Protests Return to Streets
BAGHDAD – Clashes broke out Sunday between Iraq’s anti-government protesters and security forces amid ongoing unrest that gripped the country almost four months ago.
A security official told EFE on the condition of anonymity that hundreds of demonstrators burned tires to block access to the squares of al-Tayaran and al-Wathba in Baghdad.
The protesters threw stones at security forces, who responded with tear gas, leaving at least 20 people injured, according to the source.
Scores, including university and high school students, gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir square, the epicenter of the protests that began on 1 October.
The security official said that no clashes were reported in the south, however, demonstrators cut roads and rallied outside government headquarters in the cities of Najaf, Nasiriyah, Karbala and Diwaniya.
On Saturday, protesters set fire to the Kataib Hezbollah (KH) militia group headquarters in Najaf and blocked the entrance to several government buildings, he added.
Anti-government protests have returned to streets since Friday, a few days following the rising tension between the United States and Iran.
Washington-Tehran tension broke out after a missile attack was launched on an Iraqi base near Kirkuk and left a US contractor dead, four US service members and two members of the Iraqi Security Forces wounded.
The US military then struck positions belonging to the KH in Iraq and Syria, leaving 25 people dead and 52 others wounded, according to the Iraqi Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the umbrella group of KH.
Protesters angered by the US strikes stormed the compound of the US embassy in Baghdad and burned several guard towers on the exterior fence of the building.
The conflict flared up after a US airstrike killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, as well as Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, the deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, on 3 January.
Mass demonstrations erupted in October in different parts of the country to demand more basic services and protest corruption and unemployment.
Adel Abdel Mahdi resigned nearly two months ago as prime minister, bowing to pressure from the protests that have gripped the country for almost three months.
At least 500 people have died and more than 25,000 injured since the beginning of the mass demonstrations, according to figures released by the independent Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights.