ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Two protesters have been killed during clashes with security forces in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah over the weekend, following mass arrests, activists and a representative from Iraq’s top human rights body told Rudaw English.
The government-funded, but operationally independent, Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR) has “documented cases of assassinations, kidnappings, and clashes between demonstrators and security forces in the past two days in Nasiriyah,” said commission member Ali al-Bayati on Sunday.
“Security forces used tear gas, live ammunition and rubber bullets against protesters," he added, noting that 43 protesters have been injured in the weekend’s unrest.
One member of the security forces was killed and 33 were injured, Iraq's Security Media Cell confirmed on Sunday evening.
The police crackdown in Habboubi Square, the city’s protest epicentre, comes after a large-scale arrest campaign against protesters in recent days, several activists told Rudaw English. Among those subjected to Thursday's arrest was prominent activist Ihsan al-Hilali, whose detention following being run over by a police car surged renewed anger into the protests.
Thirty people have been arrested over the weekend, including a journalist, according to a statement from IHCHR released Sunday. However, activists claim that the number of those arrested are far higher.
"The way security forces arrest activists is illegal," Hussain al-Gharabi, an activist in Nasiriya told Rudaw English by phone, on Sunday. “They act like militias.”
"The Iraqi National Intelligence Service extracts confessions by force," Maitham al-Mufadhal, another local activist, told Rudaw on Sunday.
Nasiriyah has witnessed some of the bloodiest crackdown on demonstrators since popular protests calling for an end to government corruption and inadequate basic service provision began in October 2019.
At least 600 protesters and members of the security forces were killed and more than 18,000 injured since the protest movement emerged, Amnesty International said in January 2020.
Protesters cut off several main streets in the city on Saturday, in an escalation to the city’s protest efforts, according to Mufadhal.
"IHCHR calls on the Prime Minister to take control the situation in the governorate and stop the series of assassinations, kidnappings, and restrictions on freedoms," Bayati added.
Updated at 7:40pm
