One of the two protesters who lost his life received a bullet in the throat – 57 police officers were injured in the incidents
Two protesters were killed by bullets and dozens of others wounded in Baghdad on Tuesday when broke episodes in gathering to commemorate activists who demanded democratization of Iraq recently killed, according to police and medical sources. Twenty-eight demonstrators were injured , mostly from cans of tear gas used by police forces to disperse the demonstration , which attracted thousands of people in the Iraqi capital, according to these sources.
In addition, 57 police officers were injured by objects thrown by protesters, according to sources close to the security forces.
The first protester to die , Mohamed Baker , had gone to the capital from Diwaniyah (south) to take part in the mobilization, according to Baghdad’s al-Kindi hospital, where he was treated. A medical source said he was injured by a bullet in the neck and exhaled shortly after being admitted to the emergency department. The second protester has not been identified so far.
Holding placards reading “Who killed me?” and photos of victims targeted by assassins armed with pistols equipped with silencers, protesters gathered in the three largest squares of the capital – Tahrir, Ferdows, Nosour – while in Baghdad strong police forces were deployed.
The demonstrators who went to the squares were from Baghdad, but also from Karbala, Najaf and Nasiriyah, where the murderers’ attacks took place.
On May 9, in Karbala, executors assassinated Ihab al-Wazni , the coordinator of anti-government protests in the Shi’ite holy city. The activist has often denounced paramilitary organizations and Iranian involvement in his country. The next day, Ahmed Hassan , a journalist with the al-Furat television network, was also targeted by executors. Since then he has been hospitalized in a coma.
Since the outbreak of an unprecedented popular uprising in Iraq in October 2019, more than 70 activists have become victims of executions or attempted executions . Dozens more were abducted, though most were released.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but activists say the perpetrators are known to the security services and are not being arrested despite government promises because they have some connection to Iran, a powerful neighbor it has acquired in recent years. great influence in Iraq.
Among the slogans shouted by the protesters, mostly young people: “With our souls and our blood we sacrifice for you, Iraq”, “the people want the regime to be overthrown”, “revolution against the parties”.
After the fall of Saddam Hussein ‘s regime in 2003, with the US invasion, new parties, against which the protesters succeeded yesterday, took control of political and economic life. Corruption has since become a scourge on all sides of the state.
For Hussein, a 25-year-old protester, “anyone who runs as an independent candidate without belonging to a party will be killed.” The upcoming elections, he added, “are aimed at recycling corrupt rubbish.”
So far, 17 organizations have called for a boycott of the early parliamentary electionsOctober to restore social peace in Iraq, after months of mass mobilization against corruption, government incompetence and political order.
Some had drawn up ballots ahead of the election, hoping that thanks to the support they enjoyed, they could change the system through the ballot box. But the facts changed with the assassination of Wazni and the attempt against Ahmed Hassan.
Fear was palpable yesterday in the Iraqi capital.
There are people “intruding” among the protesters, said Mohammed, 22.
“They are photographing us to threaten us,” and “they are killing activists after we leave.” Behind these crimes “are the paramilitary groups and the parties”, he judged.
