BAGHDAD, Oct 27 (NNN-NINA) – Hundreds of demonstrators continued their protests in Baghdad and some provinces in southern and central Iraq, over deteriorated living conditions, leaving up to 63 people dead and more than 2,500 others wounded.
Following Friday’s protests in Tahrir Square, in downtown Baghdad, on the eastern side of the Tigris River, dozens of demonstrators spent their night in sit-in tents, to resume the protests on Saturday and repeated their attempts to cross the nearby al-Jumhouriyah Bridge, to reach the Green Zone, but were prevented by concrete blocks and riot police.
The last attempt to cross the bridge was around sunset, when riot police heavily fired tear gas canisters and sound bombs, and managed to push them back out of Tahrir Square, an Interior Ministry source said.
The protests also continued in other cities in several southern and central provinces, including Dhi Qar, Maysan, Diwaniya, Basra and some other provinces, where protesters called for reform, accountability for corrupt people and job opportunities.
The Iraqi Independent High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR), said that, up to 63 people were killed, in two days of anti-government protests in Baghdad and other provinces, while 2,592 others wounded, mainly in Baghdad, where 1,794 people were wounded.
The IHCHR said, 83 government buildings and parties’ headquarters were burned or damaged, in the provinces of Diwaniyah, Maysan, Wasit, Dhi Qar, Basra, Muthanna, Babil and Karbala.
Also yesterday, the Interior Ministry, said, the security forces “secured the demonstration sites with responsibility and high restraint, by not using weapons or excessive force towards the demonstrators at all.”
The statement “strongly condemned the arson of public institutions, headquarters and citizens’ homes,” and confirmed that the law considers the attackers as criminal, who must severely be punished and have nothing to do with peaceful demonstrations.
For its part, the Joint Operations Command (JOC) confirmed that, “a few saboteurs took advantage of these demonstrations and killed security members and citizens, injuring others, burning and looting public and private property, as well as, seeking to attack prisons to release prisoners.”
The JOC warned that, such acts will be confronted by the security forces firmly, in accordance with the Anti-Terrorism Law, the statement said.– NNN-NINA
