Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses. Share the link of this article with your facebook friends

 

67 Iraqis Killed, Thousands Injured During Protests Against the Corrupt Regime, October Death Toll 224

October 27, 2019

Editor's Note:

Iraqis are fed-up with the US-installed corrupt regime, they are in full revolt against it, demanding it to be thrown out (regime change by people).

Iraqi protesters attacked by security forces, October 25, 2019	Iraqis continued to protest against government despite the crack down on them, October 26, 2019

Iraqi security forces fire tear gas to disperse anti-government protesters, October 25, 2019	October 25, 2019 anti-government protests in Iraq

Iraqis protesting against corruption, October 2019	Iraqi protesters throwing stones at a police vehicle cracking down on them, October 2019

Iraqi security forces killed 149 people and wounded over 3,000 in protests that began October 1, 2019	October 25, 2019 anti-government protests in Iraq

 

Defying Crackdown, Hundreds of Iraqis Protest for Third Day

By Reuters October 27, 2019

BAGHDAD -

Hundreds of Iraqi protesters remained in Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square on Sunday, defying a bloody crackdown that killed scores over the weekend and an overnight raid by security forces seeking to disperse them.

Young men had erected barricades on a bridge leading to the capital’s fortified Green Zone between them and security forces who continued to lob tear gas canisters towards them.

At least 67 Iraqis were killed and hundreds wounded Friday and Saturday, as demonstrators clashed with security forces and militia groups in a second wave of protests against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government this month, bringing the total death toll in October to 224.

Iraq’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service said Sunday it had deployed in the streets of Baghdad to protect important state buildings “from undisciplined elements.”

Two security sources had told Reuters Saturday that the elite counterterrorism forces had been deployed in Baghdad and had been told to “use all necessary measures” to end the protests against Abdul Mahdi’s government.

Counterterrorism forces beat and arrested dozens of protesters in the southern city of Nassiriya Saturday night.

They broke up the demonstrations in Tahrir Square with tear gas and stun grenades but some protesters have regrouped.

The unrest has broken nearly two years of relative stability in Iraq, which from 2003 to 2017 endured a foreign occupation, civil war and an Islamic State insurgency.

It poses the biggest challenge to Abdul Mahdi since he took office just a year ago. Despite promising reforms and ordering a broad cabinet reshuffle, he has so far struggled to address the protesters’ discontent.

Political alliances backing his fragile coalition government began to fracture, making his continued leadership increasingly precarious.

https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/defying-crackdown-hundreds-iraqis-protest-third-day

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Iraq forces clamp down on protests after bloodshed

AFP, October 26, 2019

Iraqi security forces sought to clamp down on protests in Baghdad and across the south on Saturday, a day after dozens died in a bloody resumption of anti-government rallies.

A parliamentary session scheduled for Saturday afternoon to discuss the renewed protests was cancelled after it failed to reach a quorum.

Since anti-government rallies first erupted on October 1, nearly 200 people have died and thousands were wounded in Baghdad and across the country's Shiite-majority south in violence condemned worldwide.

Almost a quarter of them, 42, succumbed on Friday alone from live rounds, tear gas canisters or while torching government buildings or offices belonging to powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary factions in several southern cities.

Tensions remained high across several cities there on Saturday, with security forces cutting off roads and imposing strict curfews.

The storming of provincial headquarters, parliamentarians' workspaces or Hashed offices marks a new phase in the southern rallies but there have been no such incidents so far in the capital.

In Baghdad, a few hundred protesters dug in around the emblematic Tahrir (Liberation) Square on Saturday morning despite efforts by riot police to clear them with tear gas.

"It's enough -- theft, looting, gangs, mafias, deep state, whatever. Get out! Let us see a (functioning) state," said one protester, referring to perceived cronyism and corruption in the country.

"We don't want anything, just let us live," he added as puffs of smoke from tear gas rose behind him.

Oil-rich Iraq is OPEC's second-highest producer -- but one in five people live below the poverty line and youth unemployment sits at 25 percent, according to the World Bank.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi has suggested a laundry list of measures to quell public anger, including hiring drives and a cabinet reshuffle, but protesters seemed unimpressed
The staggering rates of joblessness and allegations of corruption sparked the widespread protests on October 1 and the government has struggled to quell public anger by proposing reforms.

Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi has suggested a laundry list of measures, including hiring drives, increased pensions and a cabinet reshuffle.

New education and health ministers were approved by parliament in a session earlier this month, the only time it was able to reach a quorum since protests began.

But protesters seemed unimpressed.

"They told young people: 'go home, we'll give you pensions and come up with a solution'. They tricked us," said one of the rare woman protesters on Saturday, her young son at her side.

About 60 percent of Iraq's 40-million-strong population is under the age of 25.

Protesters have directed some of their anger at the country's top Shiite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is deeply revered among most Iraqis.

Others have been waiting for signal from influential populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has thrown his weight behind protests.

On Friday, Sistani urged protesters and security forces to show "restraint", warning of "chaos" if violence resumed.

"Sadr, Sistani -- this is a shame," a protester in Tahrir said on Saturday.

"We were hit! It's enough," he said, waving a tear gas canister fired earlier by security forces.

Riot police had been trying to keep protesters around Tahrir from reaching the high-security Green Zone across the river, which hosts government offices including parliament.

Speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi said he had visited Tahrir overnight, but many demonstrators have shunned the participation of mainstream politicians whom they see as trying to co-opt their movement.

But in the southern port city of Basra, protesters failed to come out in large numbers after security forces imposed a strict curfew.

In Diwaniyah, too, security forces sealed off roads ahead of planned protests later on Saturday afternoon.

Late Friday, 12 protesters died in Diwaniyah alone while setting fire to the headquarters of the powerful Badr organisation.

"Public anger is directed at them in addition to governorate councils, for they were the obvious face of 'the regime'," wrote Harith Hasan, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center.

But it was also a chance for Sadr to swipe at his rivals in the Hashed.

"The Sadrists, especially in their traditional strongholds such as Missan, saw this an opportunity to act against competing militias," such as Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Badr, and Kataeb Hezbollah, Hasan said on Twitter.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/261020193

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Iraqi Protests Against Corruption Continue, After Killing of 149 Protesters and Injuring over 3,000, American Forces Withdrawing from Syria Should Leave Iraq

October 25, 2019

Iraq police fire live rounds, tear gas to disperse Baghdad protesters

Rudaw, October 25, 2019

12.17 p.m.

‘We want to topple the state’ (throw out the regime)

Protesters gathered near Baghdad’s Tahrir Square say they are no longer interested in their original demands of tackling unemployment, corruption, and the lack of public services. They are now calling for the overthrow of the government. 

In footage of Friday’s unrest, protesters can be heard chanting: “Parties out, out! Baghdad will remain free!” 

“We, alongside the youth, are out not for jobs or anything. We want to topple the state. We want a homeland because these [in power] are useless,” one protester told Rudaw. 

“We want a homeland. We want to live like other Arab states,” he added. “Today, God willing, it is either us, or them.” 

Ambulances have been seen racing through Baghdad transporting the wounded to local hospitals. 

“The demands of the people are clear. They want to change the corrupt political system of the past 16 years, and of before that as well,” said another protester. 

The ruling parties have caused the spread of illiteracy and poverty and have divided Iraq's resources among themselves, the protester added. “We want a new Iraq, a country we believe in, we want reassurance, democracy, and freedom.”  

In the run up to the resumption of protests on Friday morning, the Iraqi interior ministry and the prime minister said measures were being taken to protect the safety of protesters. 

“The government continues its lies, promising to protect peaceful protesters, but there is repression,” the protester said.

A member of the security forces in Tahrir Square told Rudaw they are not against the protesters, blaming the fatal shootings on the armed militias of Iraq’s political parties. 

“We are with them, not against them. It is the parties that are shooting them. It is impossible that security forces hurt the protesters,” the riot policeman said. 

11.10 a.m.

Tear gas, live ammunition 

Iraqi police have used tear gas and fired live rounds into the air to disperse protesters gathering near the Green Zone in the capital Baghdad, where anti-government demonstrations resumed on Friday, according to Rudaw’s reporter at the scene. 

Images are already emerging of wounded protesters being carried away and others being detained by security forces. There are also images of protesters pulling down concrete barriers and barbed wire fences protecting government buildings in the fortified Green Zone. 

Protesters say at least one person has been killed. Rudaw has not be able to independently verify the claim. 

Iraq saw nationwide anti-government protests in early October demanding action to tackle high youth unemployment, poverty, poor services, and corruption. Baghdad saw the largest protests with thousands of mostly young men taking to the streets. 

They were violently suppressed by security forces and armed militia groups. At least 157 people were killed and 5,494 injured in the wave of unrest, according to a report published by the Human Rights Office of the United Nationals Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) on Tuesday.

Curfews were imposed on city centers and internet services suspended across the country’s south. 

The protests receded after October 9, with demonstrators saying they were pausing their activities during the Shiite religious observance of Arbaeen. They pledged to return to the streets on Friday. 

The government and international observers fear the unrest will again get out of control and have urged restraint on all sides. 

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/25102019

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Iraqi Security Forces Killed 149 People In Recent Protests, Inquiry Concludes

NPR, October 22, 2019

Richard Gonzales

Iraqi security forces killed 149 people and wounded over 3,000 in protests that began Oct. 1, a government-appointed inquiry announced Tuesday.

The Iraqi military previously had admitted that its forces had used "excessive force" in attempting to quell protests against government corruption, high unemployment and the lack of basic services such as clean water and electricity.

Eight members of the security forces also were killed in violent protests.

Most of the dead or wounded civilians died of gunshot wounds to the head or chest, NPR's Jane Arraf reports, adding that the protests were sparked by corruption, lack of jobs and poor public services.

"Iraq is one of the biggest oil producers in the world, but it has huge levels of poverty and unemployment and still more than a million people displaced from their homes," Arraf notes. "The biggest protest in weeks is planned for Friday in Baghdad."

The government panel blamed the deaths on poor leadership on the ground and not government policy.

"The committee found that officers and commanders lost control over their forces during the protests (and this) caused chaos," the panel said in its report as quoted by Reuters. "There were no official orders from the supreme authorities to security forces to open fire toward protesters or use live ammunition at all."

The panel's report also said that the protestors had been targeted by sniper fire.

Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has approved the panel's recommendations to fire senior commanders in Baghdad and in several southern provinces. He also referred the cases to the judiciary for prosecution.

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/22/772443972/iraqi-security-forces-killed-149-people-in-recent-protests-inquiry-concludes

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Iraqi defense minister gives US troops 4 weeks to leave Iraq

By Associated Press, October 23, 2019

BAGHDAD —

US troops withdrawing from northeastern Syria to Iraq are “transiting” and will leave the country within four weeks, Iraq’s defense minister said Wednesday.

Najah al-Shammari made the remarks to the Associated Press following a meeting in Baghdad with visiting US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who arrived as Iraqi leaders chafed over reports the US may want to increase the number of troops based in Iraq, at least temporarily.

Iraq’s military said Tuesday that American troops leaving northeastern Syria don’t have permission to stay in Iraq in a statement that appeared to contradict Esper, who has said all US troops leaving Syria would continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State group from Iraq to prevent its resurgence in the region.

He later added that the troops would be there temporarily until they are able to go home, but no time period has been set.

Esper said earlier Wednesday that the US has no plans to leave those troops in Iraq “interminably” and that he plans to talk with Iraqi leaders about the matter.

Al-Shammari said Esper traveled to Iraq based on an invitation from the Iraqis. In Wednesday’s talks, he said the two sides agreed that the American troops crossing from Syria are “transiting” through Iraq and will then head to Kuwait, Qatar or the United States “within a time frame not exceeding four weeks.”

The Iraqi minister said the planes that would transport the American troops out of Iraq have already arrived.

Esper’s visit to Baghdad came a day after Russia and Turkey reached an agreement that would deploy their forces along nearly the entire northeastern border to fill the void left after President Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of US forces from the area, a move that essentially cleared the way for the Turkish invasion earlier this month.

It was unclear Wednesday what that means for US forces.

Trump ordered the bulk of the approximately 1,000 US troops in Syria to withdraw after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated in a phone call that his forces were about to invade Syria to push back Syrian Kurdish fighters, whom Ankara considers terrorists.

The pullout largely abandons the Kurdish allies who have fought the Islamic State group alongside US troops for several years. Between 200 and 300 US troops will remain at the southern Syrian outpost of Al-Tanf.

Esper said the troops going into Iraq would have two missions, one to help defend Iraq against a resurgence of Islamic State militants and another to monitor and perform a counter-IS mission.

The US currently has more than 5,000 troops in Iraq, under an agreement between the two countries. The US pulled its forces out of Iraq in 2011 when combat operations there ended, but they went back in after the Islamic State group began to take over large swaths of the country in 2014.

The number of American forces in Iraq has remained small due to political sensitivities in the country, after years of what some Iraqis consider US occupation during the war that began in 2003. Iraqi leaders may privately condone more US forces to battle IS, but worry if it’s widely known that there will be backlash from citizens.

US troops in Syria fought for five years alongside Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria and succeeded in bringing down the rule of IS militants — at the cost of thousands of Kurdish fighters’ lives. Under the new agreement, much of that territory would be handed over to US rivals.

The biggest winners are Turkey and Russia. Turkey would get sole control over areas of the Syrian border captured in its invasion, while Turkish, Russian and Syrian government forces would oversee the rest of the border region. America’s former US allies, the Kurdish fighters, are left hoping Moscow and Damascus will preserve some pieces of the Syrian Kurdish autonomy in the region.

https://nypost.com/2019/10/23/iraqi-defense-minister-gives-us-troops-4-weeks-to-leave-iraq/  

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The following are news stories from the independent Iraqi Arabic news agency, Ayn Al-Iraq (http://aynaliraqnews.com/ ):

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Abdul Mahdi is demanded to uncover the truth behind the crack down on the protesters

تيار الحكمة: على عبد المهدي كشف حقيقة قمع التظاهرات او الاستقالة

الخميس 24 أكتوبر 2019 | 03:27 مساءً 1

بغداد/... اعتبر نائب عن تيار الحكمة، اليوم الخميس، التقرير الحكومي حول التظاهرات "بائس وشماعة راح ضحيتها ضباط وقيادات امنية"، داعيا رئيس الوزراء للخروج امام الملأ وكشف الحقائق كاملة بكل مالديه من معلومات او تقديم استقالته والاعتذار للشعب العراقي.

وقال محمود الملا طلال في تصريح صحفي، ان "التقرير الحكومي حول التظاهرات، هو تقرير بائس لم يصل الى مستوى التحقيق الفعلي والناجع بحسب ما ارادته المرجعية من كشف للحقائق"، مبينا ان "ما حصل من نتائج كارثية خلال التظاهرات واستشهاد اكثر من مئة شاب وجرح الالاف، لم نكن نتمنى ان يتم تعليقتلك الكوارث والاخطاء القاتلة على شماعة ضباط لم يكن بالاساس علاقة باطلاق النار على المتظاهرين".

واضاف الملا طلال، ان "هناك نداءات مسجلة لبعض القيادات التي تم محاسبتها تضمنت اوامر بمنع اطلاق النار او التعرض للمتظاهرين او المساس بالممتلكات العامة، الا ان التقرير جاء بنتائج كارثية واعفاء لهم دون ان يتم التحقيق معهم بل ان البعض منهم كان ضمن اللجان المشكلة للتحقيق في المحافظات"، لافتا الى ان "تعليق قضية ذهاب هيبة الدولة على شماعة اؤلئك الضباط والقوات الامنية التي شاركت في الدفاع على العراق والانتصار على داعش وحفظ امن المواطنين هو امر غير مقبول وكانوا ضحية لاخطاء الحكومة سواء كانت القيادة المسلحة او ما دونها".

واكد الملا طلال، ان "التقرير لم يكشف قضية القناصين الذين تسللوا وتم وضعهم على اسطح البنايات واطلقو الرصاص بمناطق قاتلة على المتظاهرين رغم انتشار القوات االمنية في تلك المناطق ولا نعلم من جاء بهم وادخلهم لتلك المواقع دون منع"، مشددا على ان "رئيس الوزراء عادل عبد المهدي امام امرين اما الخروج امام الناس والتكلم بصراحة كاملة وبكامل المعلومات وان يصارح الشعب بكل ما لديه او ان يقدم استقالته ويعتذر للشعب العراقي عن ما بدر من تصرفات غير صحيحة من وزارات فاشلة".

وكانت اللجنة الحكومية المكلفة بالتحقيق في احداث التظاهرات الاخيرة اصدرت تقريرها، الثلاثاء 22 تشرين الاول 2019، والذي اوصت فيه باعفاء العديد من قادة الشرطة والقيادات الامنية في بغداد والمحافظات من مناصبهم.

http://aynaliraqnews.com/index.php?aa=news&id22=126432

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Iraqi human rights Commission calls for protecting the right of people for peaceful protests

حقوق الانسان تصدر بياناً بشأن التظاهرات.. وتحذر!

الخميس 24 أكتوبر 2019 | 01:18 مساءً 0

بغداد/.. اصدرت مفوضية حقوق الانسان، الخميس، بياناً بشان التظاهرات التي ستنطلق يوم غد الجمعة الـ25 من تشرين الاول الجاري.

وذكر بيان للمفوضية تلقته، "عين العراق نيوز"، انه استناداً إلى مهام وواجبات المفوضية العليا لحقوق الانسان التي رسمها قانون المفوضية رقم 53 لسنة 2008 المعدل لضمان واحترام الحقوق والحريات ومنها حق التعبير عن الرأي والتظاهر السلمي كوسيلة للمطالبة بالحقوق المشروعة التي كفلها الدستور والقوانين النافذة وبناءا" على هذا الواجب الإنساني والقانوني المكلفين به فإن المفوضية تؤكد على الآتي:

1- ان حق التظاهر السلمي والتعبير عن الرأي هو حق دستوري مكفول لجميع المواطنين على حد سواء وعلى الحكومة أن توفر الحماية للمتظاهرين وتمكنهم من التعبير عن مطالبهم المشروعة بالطرق السلمية.

2- على الحكومة ممثلة بأجهزتها وقواتها الأمنية كافة أن تتعامل مع التظاهرات السلمية والمتظاهرين وفقا" لمبادئ حقوق الانسان التي نصت عليها القوانين والتشريعات الدولية والدستور العراقي وبما يضمن المحافظة على حياة المتظاهرين وتجنب استخدام القوة بكافة أشكالها والابتعاد عن الأساليب التي تحط من كرامة المتظاهر وتعرض حياته وأمنه للخطر.

3- على الحكومة والأجهزة الأمنية ان تؤمن حرية التنقل والاتصال للمتظاهرين وتوفر الحماية اللازمة لأماكن التظاهر والأبنية والشوارع المحيطة بها.

4- ان حرية الاعلام والصحافة هي من ركائز النظام الديمقراطي وعلى الحكومة ان تمكن الاعلام الحر النزيه من ممارسة دوره المنشود في تغطية التظاهرات ونقل الحقائق.

5- تؤكد المفوضية على ضرورة الإسراع بمحاكمة المدانين بالأحداث التي رافقت التظاهرات التي انطلقت في بغداد والمحافظات في الأول من تشرين الاول الجاري ولغاية الثامن منه والتي تسببت بقتل واصابة المتظاهرين والقوات الامنية على حد سواء والاعتداء على الممتلكات العامة والخاصة وضمان التعويضات العادلة لذوي الضحايا والمتضررين كافة.

6- تطالب المفوضية مجلس القضاء الاعلى بالتحقيق العادل عما رافق التظاهرات السابقة من انتهاكات لحقوق الانسان من قبل أشخاص وجهات كافة والتي ثبت تورطها بتلك الانتهاكات وفقا للتحقيقات الرسمية.

7- توصي المفوضية المواطنين المتظاهرين بممارسة هذا الحق بشكل سلمي وعدم السماح للأشخاص غير المنضبطين في حال وجودهم من التعرض للقوات الأمنية وحرف التظاهرات عن سلميتها وأهدافها المشروعة.

8- تدعو المفوضية كافة الأجهزة الأمنية وتشكيلات وزارة الداخلية ووزارة الصحة ووزارة العدل بتمكين فرق رصد ومتابعة التظاهرات التابعة للمفوضية العليا لحقوق الانسان من اداء مهامها المكلفة بها والخاصة برصد وتوثيق الانتهاكات وتزويدها بالبيانات والمعلومات المطلوبة والتي تمكنها من اداء واجباتها على اكمل وجه ، كما تؤكد المفوضية بأن ابوابها مفتوحة لاستقبال الشكاوى الخاصة بالانتهاكات الحاصلة بحقهم والطلبات لجميع المواطنين دون استثناء.

وأخيراً فإن المفوضية العليا لحقوق الانسان تؤكد للجميع بأنها اوعزت لجميع موظفيها بالتواجد في ساحات التظاهر من خلال فرقها الرصدية المشكلة من اجل رصد وتوثيق اي انتهاكات قد تحصل وتؤكد بأنها مع التظاهرات السلمية والمطالب المشروعة ، كما وتشدد على ضرورة الاستجابة السريعة والفعلية لتلك المطالب بما يضمن عيشاً كريما آمناً لجميع المواطنين... والله ولي التوفيق

http://aynaliraqnews.com/index.php?aa=news&id22=126422

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