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Iraq
Anti-government protesters set fires and close a street during a demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq, October 5, 2019. Photo: Hadi Mizban / AP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – “Saddam Hussein killed 148 people in the Dujail massacre and he was executed for it. Today Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi killed more than 150 protesters and he is still in power,” said Saeed, a protester from Babil.
The Dujail massacre occurred in 1982 when deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein executed members of the town’s Shiite community. It was one of three crimes that earned Saddam the death penalty in 2006, along with the Anfal genocide and Halabja chemical attacks.
Saeed, 31, lives in al-Hila town in Babil province with his wife and their two little sons. He is a law school graduate from Babil University and currently works in the province’s justice department.
He went to Baghdad on October 1 to participate in Iraq’s nationwide anti-government protests, 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.
“Even though I have a job, I protested for the sake of my friends and poor families’ fate, as they need a chance as well,” Saeed said.
On that first day of protests, Saeed was shot with a rubber bullet. He says he was targeted by a masked gunman on the rooftop of a building near Baghdad’s Green Zone that houses government offices and foreign embassies.
“I was unarmed and only holding an Iraqi flag when I saw three armed masked men on the rooftop of the Turkish restaurant near the Green Zone targeting protesters,” Saeed recalled. “Moments later one of them shot me in my arm, which made me pass out for more than 30 minutes.”
Saeed woke up to find he had been dragged by his fellow protesters to a corner, out of sight of the armed men and Iraqi security forces.
“I couldn’t go to any hospital in Baghdad as they were detaining all wounded protesters. So my friend drove me all the way back to Babil to get treatment there,” Saeed explained.
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.
The protests receded after October 9, with demonstrators saying they were pausing their activities during the Shiite religious observance of Arbaeen. They have pledged to return to the streets on Friday. There are fears of a resumption of violence.
The Iraqi interior ministry announced on Thursday that security forces and federal police are on “high alert” to protect protesters and government buildings.
“The Iraqi PM and Iraqi interior minister are supervising the situation themselves,” it said in a statement. “Both the Iraqi PM and interior minister urged the security forces to respect the protesters and deal with the protesters according to the principles of human rights.”
‘We won’t go home this time’
“On Friday there won’t be a protest, there will be a revolution and I will be proudly one of the revolutionists in Iraq,” Saeed said.
Khalid, 25, a married man from Baghdad, is ready with his Iraqi flag and camera to join the protest on Friday.
He joined the protests for the first three days, but stopped to take care of his heavily pregnant wife. “I protested in early October to make a change, but on Friday, I will raise my Iraqi flag and revolt against the current corrupted officials,” he said.
Smartphone footage of protesters clashing with security forces in Baghdad's Tahir Squire, October 2, 2019. Credit: submitted
No longer happy with piecemeal changes, Khalid said all Iraqis will join the protests to demand “real changes” and to “change the current regime”.
“We will make a revolution on Friday to show the entire world that all we need is peace and no more Islamic parties ruling us,” Khalid said. “Even if they kill 200 more protesters on Friday, we won’t go home this time.”
Saeed and Khalid had a message for the international community: “On Friday we will make a revolution in Iraq. We wish the international community will listen to our demands and save our future by saving our lives.”
The world is closely watching how events will unfold on the streets and in the halls of power. UK Ambassador to Baghdad Jon Wilks tweeted on Thursday he had informed the Iraqi prime minister and senior officials that “excessive force” or “criminal violence” must be avoided when security forces deal with protesters and the media.
Martin Huth, European Union ambassador to Iraq, called for the protests to remain “non-violent” and for the security forces to use “utmost restraint” on October 25.
The recent UN report concluded that unarmed protesters had been deliberately killed and units deployed to manage the demonstrations used excessive force.
Sadr to protesters: ‘don’t give up’
Firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has thrown his support behind the protesters. The influential figure is head of the Sayirun alliance, the largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament. He also leads the Saraya al-Salam militia, which is part of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), known as Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic.
In a long statement published on his Facebook page late on Saturday, Sadr called on his supporters and the public to return to the streets on Friday.
“The government leaders and politicians are in a state of fear because of you. They are completely unable to fix anything within this country,” his statement read. “Therefore, I ask everyone to start the revolution which will clean Iraq from the corrupt and fools.”
Smartphone footage of protesters clashing with security forces in Baghdad's Tahir Squire, October 2, 2019. Credit: submitted
Sadr withdrew his backing for the government of Adil Abdul-Mahdi in the wake of the protests and called for fresh elections. He accused Iraq’s top politicians of being under the influence of foreign powers, particularly arch rivals Iran and the United States.
On Wednesday, he offered a long list of advice for the “revolutionists”, urging them to “stay peaceful and not give up.”
Last ditch government reforms
Abdul-Mahdi unveiled a set of reforms on Wednesday in a last ditch attempt to quell the planned protests.
He pledged to establish a central anti-corruption court – a place for “corrupt officials to face justice”.
Since taking power in October 2018, Abdul-Mahdi has said his government’s priority is to clamp down on corruption. Critics say he has moved too slowly, however, and he is under mounting pressure to deliver tangible results and not just a few token scalps.
Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi also promised to fight corruption and to stand up to corrupted officials, but failed to solve the problem during his tenure. Anti-government protests in summer 2018 ended his bid for a second term.
Abdul-Mahdi may believe he can take the sting out of the tail of the protesters by announcing a reduction in his salary and expenses and those of the president, parliamentary speaker, and other top officials.
“Cutting the salaries of the three presidents, ministers, member of parliaments, deputy ministers to half of its current figure” is among the new measures he introduced this week. “The salary of the highest position in the country will not exceed 10 million IQD ($8,407 per month).”
The same step was also taken by former PM Abadi in 2015 when the price of oil collapsed.
According to World Bank data, Iraq’s unemployment rate among youth was 16.1 percent in 2018.
** The names of all of the protesters who spoke to Rudaw English have been changed at their request and for their safety.
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