BAGHDAD — Protests escalate across Iraq’s south and its capital Baghdad today as demonstrators seal off streets with burning tires in outrage at the government’s slow pace of reform.
The youth-dominated rallies demanding an overhaul of the ruling system have rocked Shiite-majority parts of Iraq since October, but had thinned out in recent weeks amid the geopolitical storm of rising Iran-US tensions.
Today the anti-government protest movement was reignited with hundreds of angry young people descending on the main protest camp in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square as well as the nearby Tayaran Square.
Others burn tires to block highways and bridges, turning back cars and leading to traffic jams across the city.
Iraqi anti-government demonstrators march during a protest at Tayaran Square, near Tahrir Square in the center of the capital Baghdad, on January 19, 2020. (Sabah Arar/AFP)
Security forces use tear gas to try to clear out the protesters, who respond by throwing rocks.
At least 10 people including police officers are wounded in the resulting skirmishes, a medical source tells AFP.
Protesters are demanding early elections based on a reformed voting law, a new prime minister to replace current caretaker premier Adel Abdel Mahdi and that officials deemed corrupt be held to account.
Abdel Mahdi resigned nearly two months ago, but political parties have thus far failed to agree on a successor and he has continued to run the government as a caretaker.
— AFP
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