The Iraqi Security Media Cell announced, on Saturday, that dozens of injuries were recorded among the security forces and demonstrators after confrontations in Baghdad, during the gathering of thousands of Baghdad to commemorate the third anniversary of the major and unprecedented uprising against the authority.
She explained that “despite repeated calls by the security services not to allow intruders to enter the crowds of the demonstrators, we note that there are outlaws who used illegal tools and materials during the demonstrations.”
In a statement, it said that as a result of the confrontations, “19 officers and members of the force charged with securing protection for the demonstrators were injured, while 9 civilians were wounded, since the demonstrations began in Baghdad this morning (Saturday).”
She pointed out that “the injuries came among the security services as a result of the use of stones, glass balls and Molotov cocktails.”
She added that “two suspects were arrested in possession of glass balls for throwing at the security forces during the demonstrations.”
The competent security services continue to provide protection for peaceful demonstrators, and they take the utmost discipline in their work, but some intruders are trying to attack the security forces.
Where the competent security services managed to arrest two suspects in possession of glass balls and tools for throwing these balls… pic.twitter.com/PhmiLNjmwx— Security Media Cell ???????? (@SecMedCell) October 1, 2022
She stated that “the security services specialized in securing protection for peaceful demonstrators, while taking the utmost discipline in their work, spotted some intruders trying to attack the security forces.”
The statement added that “the competent security forces were able to arrest two suspects in possession of glass balls and tools for throwing these balls at our security forces, and protective shields, a mask that hides the face and 2 sticks,” noting that “the necessary legal measures were taken against them.”
revival of the october revolution
On Saturday, thousands of demonstrators gathered in Baghdad to commemorate the third anniversary of the major and unprecedented uprising.
Protests erupted in October 2019 across the country, particularly in the impoverished south. And it lasted for several months in the oil-rich country, during which hundreds of thousands of demonstrators camped out in Tahrir Square, denouncing the spread of unemployment, the collapse of infrastructure and the lack of democracy.
The momentum of the demonstrations weakened under the weight of the repression that killed nearly 600 people and injured 30,000 others and the restrictions imposed by the Covid pandemic, and after three years, nothing has changed, according to AFP.
The same big parties still have a monopoly on the political scene. A year after legislative elections in October 2021, politicians are still wrangling, unable to choose a new prime minister.
On Saturday, thousands of demonstrators, mostly young people, chanted, “The people want the fall of the regime” and raised Iraqi flags and pictures of the 2019 dead, as they gathered in the symbolic Tahrir Square to mark the anniversary.
The demonstrators gathered at the entrance to the Jumhuriya Bridge, which was closed by security forces with three concrete blocks to prevent access to the Green Zone, which includes Western embassies and state institutions.
The police fired several bursts of tear gas to prevent the demonstrators from crossing these fortifications, and the two sides exchanged stones, according to an AFP correspondent.
Some demonstrators came out bare-chested and covered their faces with a keffiyeh to protect themselves from inhaling tear gas, while others carried one of the wounded to evacuate him from the front lines.
An official in the Ministry of the Interior told AFP that the protesters had thrown into the river iron barriers set up as obstacles on the Jumhuriya Bridge. He confirmed that 18 riot policemen were slightly injured after stones and bottles were thrown at them.
He stated that at least 28 cases of suffocation were recorded among the demonstrators.
face power
“Today, confronting the authorities has become inevitable,” said activist Ali Al-Habib. He added, “All bridges and roads are blocked because there is fear from the authorities for fear of peaceful October.”
Habib criticized the infighting within the political class. He said, “About a year has passed since the elections, which were organized in a way that benefits the political class to divide the cake. Dividing the power among them is not for the sake of the people.
The anniversary of the demonstrations takes place in a tense atmosphere, as the two main Shiite poles are facing each other over the appointment of a new prime minister and the possibility of early legislative elections.
On the one hand, the powerful Shiite leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, demands an immediate dissolution of parliament, while his opponent wants the Shiite coordination framework, an alliance of Shiite factions loyal to Iran, to form a government before any elections.
On August 29, the tension reached its peak when a number of Sadr’s supporters clashed with the army and men from the Popular Mobilization Forces, the former pro-Iranian paramilitary forces that were integrated into the regular forces.
More than thirty supporters of the Sadrist movement were killed in these battles.
Claiming rights
Karar Hatem, 21, who calls himself “Teshreni” in reference to the October protests, said, “The politicians claim to be Iraqis, but they are not (…) They came from outside the country and are only preoccupied with the quotas and the people under Grief is dripping with blood.”
He stressed that “the politicians have not provided anything for the country, and the revolutionaries are continuing in order for the people to win and live in safety.”
In turn, a teacher, without revealing her name, criticized the “disagreements and clashes between politicians.” “We will continue to demand our rights. We will not be silent in the face of injustice,” she said.
In Nassiriya, a large city in the marginalized south, hundreds also demonstrated in commemoration.
After decades of devastating conflict and in the absence of economic reforms and major infrastructure projects in a country plagued by rampant corruption, the authorities are unable to curb the unemployment that four out of ten young people face.
42 million Iraqis are also suffering severely from the consequences of climate change with increasing drought and water scarcity in Mesopotamia.
In addition to the multiple crises that rock Iraq, politicians are unable to confront geopolitical tensions from which the state cannot escape. Hence, Iran and Turkey, the two big neighbors, bomb Iraqi Kurdistan to weaken the Iranian or Turkish armed Kurdish opposition movements present in it.
On Wednesday, Iranian strikes with rocket-propelled grenades and drones, targeting Iranian Kurdish militia sites, left 14 dead and 58 wounded.