Iraqi protesters torch buildings, block roads over PM pick

NASIRIYAH, Iraq — Iraqi anti-government protesters blocked roads and bridges in Baghdad and the country’s south Thursday after torching several buildings overnight.

The demonstrators oppose the entire political class and have vented their anger against leaders who are negotiating to nominate an establishment insider as the next prime minister.

“The government is hostage to corrupt parties and sectarian divisions,” said one activist, Sattar Jabbar, 25, in the southern city of Nasiriyah.

Smoke and flames from burning tires in Nasiriyah, Basra and Diwaniyah blocked major roads and bridges across the Euphrates all night, AFP correspondents said, before some of these roadblocks were lifted in the morning.

In Nasiriyah, demonstrators set the provincial government building ablaze overnight for a second time since the protests began, and protesters also torched the new headquarters of a pro-Iran militia in Diwaniyah.

A masked Iraqi anti-government protester stands by a fire at a makeshift roadblock in the southern city of Basra late on December 25, 2019. (Hussein Faleh/AFP)

Iraq has been rocked by protests since October 1, prompting Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi to resign last month.

After dwindling, the street campaign has gained new vigor in recent days to rally against widespread corruption and a political system seen as beholden to neighboring Iran.

Government offices and schools remain closed across almost all of Iraq’s south.

Pro-Iranian factions have for several weeks touted outgoing higher education minister Qusay al-Suhail for the post of prime minister, but his nomination was opposed by President Barham Saleh.

This picture taken on December 25, 2019 shows a view of tents in a sit-in along the Tigris river near the Senak bridge erected by anti-government protesters in the capital Baghdad. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

Those factions are now lobbying for Assaad al-Aidani, the governor of Basra — another unpopular choice with demonstrators.

“We don’t want Assaad the Iranian!” shouted protesters in Kut, a southern city.

Saleh, the president, refused Thursday to designate al-Aidani for the post of prime minister after he was rejected by anti-government protesters and said he was ready to submit his resignation to Parliament.

Saleh said in a statement issued by his office that he would not name al-Aidani as the country’s next prime minister “to avoid more bloodshed and in order to safeguard civil peace.” Al-Aidani’s name was proposed Wednesday by the Fatah bloc, which includes leaders associated with the Iran-supported paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces.

A protester walks past a poster with a defaced picture of the governor of the southern Basra province Asaad al-Eidani and Arabic that reads “rejected by the people,” during the ongoing protests, in Tahrir square, in Baghdad, Iraq, December 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

According to Iraq’s constitution, the largest bloc in parliament is required to nominate the prime minister, who is then designated by the president. A deadline to name a new prime minister has been missed twice over disagreements on which is the largest bloc in the parliament following last year’s elections.

Saleh, in his statement, said his refusal to designate al-Aidani could be construed as a violation of the constitution and therefore said he was putting his resignation at the disposal of Parliament. He stopped short of actually submitting his resignation.

The protesters want a technocratic premier who has had no involvement in the political system set up after the US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Around 460 people have been killed and 25,000 wounded in nearly three months of clashes between protesters and security forces.