Umm Qasr clashes leave over 100 hurt

This news has been read 13412 times!

BAGHDAD, Nov 2, (Agencies): Around 120 people were wounded amid skirmishes between protestors and security forces in Iraq’s main commodities port of Umm Qasar on Saturday, said the Iraqi High Commission on Human Rights. Security forces used tear-gas and rubber bullets to disperse protestors who were blocking all roads leading to the port, which receives the bulk of the Gulf country’s imports, read a statement by the government committee investigating the wave of unrest. It urged the protestors to steer clear of such vital facilities, while calling on security forces to exercise maximum restraint.

Thousands of mostly young Iraqis are demonstrating nationwide against corruption, unemployment and poor public services, triggering the biggest challenge for Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s one yearold government. Tens of thousands of Iraqis massed in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on Friday in the biggest demonstrations since antigovernment protests erupted a month ago, defying security forces that have killed scores of people and harshly criticizing Iran’s involvement in the country’s affairs.

The square and the wide boulevards leading into it were packed with flag-waving protesters, as security forces reinforced barricades on two bridges leading to the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of government.

The protesters want sweeping change to the political system established after the 2003 US-led invasion, which they blame for widespread corruption, high unemployment and poor public services. At least 255 people have been killed in two major waves of protests in the past month, including five who died Friday of wounds sustained earlier, according to security and medical officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief reporters.

At least 350 people were wounded Friday as security forces fired tear-gas grenades and rubber bullets to drive people back from the bridges. Many protesters directed their rage at Iran, which emerged as a major power broker after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and has close ties to powerful political parties and state-backed militias that were mobilized to battle the Islamic State group but have now become an imposing political faction. Videos circulated online of a group of protesters holding a poster showing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the head of its elite Quds force, Gen Qassim Soleimani, with their faces crossed out.

The video, which showed protesters beating the poster with their shoes, appeared to have been filmed Thursday in Tahrir Square. On Friday, protesters marched over an Iranian flag painted on the pavement with a swastika added to it.

This news has been read 13412 times!