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A10 WORLD NEWS
Monday 7 october 2019
Iraq blames 'malicious' hands as toll from unrest tops 100

BAGHDAD (AP) — Twelve Security forces have
anti-government demon- beefed up their presence
strators were killed Sunday in central Baghdad, de-
in ongoing protests in the ploying as far as Sadr City
capital Baghdad, the latest to seal off Tahrir Square.
fatalities in six days of clash- Army troops blocked a
es that have left more than main road Sunday to pre-
100 dead and thousands vent the protesters from
wounded. advancing, then fired on
Iraq's government has them to push them back.
scrambled to contain the After about an hour, there
popular anger that has was more intense gunfire,
racked Baghdad and a with soldiers firing over the
number of southern cit- heads of protesters as they
ies since Tuesday. Security tried to advance.
forces responded with a Ducking in reaction to the
crackdown on the sponta- fire, some protesters piled
neous rallies of demonstra- over one another trying
tors demanding jobs, bet- to hide behind the wall of
ter services and an end to a nearby water fountain.
endemic corruption in the One protester carrying a
oil-rich country. drum chanted "peaceful,
In the first official statement Iraqi Army troops deploy at a site of protests in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019. peaceful," as others joined
from the government ac- Associated Press in. As the gunfire contin-
counting for the violence, ued, protesters set tires on
Interior Ministry spokesman The unrest is the most seri- paramilitary forces allied protesters said snipers also fire.
Saad Maan said Sunday ous challenge facing Iraq with Iran. took part in breaking up the Some demonstrators ar-
that 104 people had been two years after the vic- Iraq's most senior Shiite spiri- protests. Maan said most of rived in rickshaws, which
killed in the six days of un- tory against Islamic State tual leader, Grand Ayatol- those killed Friday were hit have been used to carry
rest, including eight mem- militants. The chaos also lah Ali al-Sistani, has urged in the head and heart. the wounded from the
bers of the security forc- comes at a critical time for the protesters and the se- Officials had said earlier bloody clashes.
es, and more than 6,000 the government, which has curity forces to end the vio- there were attempts at "se- The U.N. envoy for Iraq ap-
wounded. He said an in- been caught in the middle lence while the country's dition" from snipers who tar- pealed for an end to the
vestigation was under way of increasing U.S.-Iran ten- prime minister has called geted security and protest- violence and called for
to determine who was be- sions in the region. Iraq is on the protesters to go ers alike. They didn't elabo- holding to account those
hind the most deadly day allied with both countries home. Prime Minister Adel rate. responsible. "This must stop.
of violence, in Baghdad on and hosts thousands of U.S. Abdul-Mahdi also pledged Late Saturday, the prime I call on all parties to pause
Friday. troops, as well as powerful to meet with the protest- minister announced a num- and reflect," Jeanine Hen-
ers wherever they are and ber of measures designed nis-Plasschaert tweeted
without any armed forces, to appease the protest- Saturday night.
to hear their demands. ers, including paying out Meanwhile, Abdul-Mahdi
Abdul-Mahdi defended unemployment benefits pledged to meet with the
the security forces, saying and providing subsidized demonstrators to hear their
they were carrying out their housing and land for low- demands.
duties and would only use income groups. "I am ready to go wherever
force in extreme cases of Still, demonstrators took to our brotherly protesters are
self-defense. the streets again Sunday— and meet them or send
"We can't accept the con- although in smaller num- them envoys to other loca-
tinuation of the situation bers. Hundreds gathered tions without any armed
like this," Abdul-Mahdi told on side streets near Sadr forces," he said late Sat-
his Cabinet late Saturday in City, a Baghdad suburb, urday. "I will go and meet
televised remarks. "We hear some four kilometers (2.5 them without weapons
of snipers, firebombs, burn- miles) from Tahrir Square, and sit with them for hours
ing a policeman, a citizen." which has been the des- to listen to their demands."
Speaking on Sunday, tination of the weeklong He also decreed that those
Maan, the Interior Ministry rallies, although authorities killed in the protests, wheth-
spokesman, said protest- have prevented protesters er demonstrators or security
ers have burned 51 public from reaching it. forces, would be consid-
buildings and eight po- A medical official in a lo- ered "martyrs" eligible for
litical party headquarters. cal hospital and a security state benefits.
He claimed security forces official said 12 protesters Earlier on Sunday, Bagh-
didn't confront the protest- were killed and more than dad's streets had been
ers, adding that "malicious 50 others wounded as they mostly quiet and traffic thin
hands" were behind target- repeatedly tried to break as an eerie calm prevailed.
ing protesters and security through a security cordon Students made it to schools
members alike. to head to the city cen- and government employ-
That contradicted ac- ter. The officials, who did ees returned to work. But
counts from demonstrators not provide details, spoke burnt tires and debris lit-
and journalists at the scene on condition of anonymity tered thoroughfares while
who have said they wit- because they were not au- security remained heav-
nessed security forces firing thorized to speak to report- ily deployed in many
on demonstrators. Some ers. neighborhoods.q