Protesters in Iraq rebuke Iran with chants of, “Get out, Iran! Free Baghdad!”

Protesters in Iraq rebuke Iran with chants of, “Get out, Iran! Free Baghdad!”

Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

The crisis in Iraq is not abating because protesters demand genuine political change. At the same time, protesters want Iran to keep out of the body politic of Iraq. Equally important, protests have erupted in Shia heartlands. Hence, for many protesters, Iran is a hostile nation that is infringing on the sovereignty of Iraq.

Unbelievably, the death toll is now over 250. This applies to open killings by the Iraqi security apparatus and militias that are loyal to Iran. Thus, the situation is extremely critical.

France 24 reports, “…videos have been circulating of protesters hitting their shoes against a poster of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds force, the (in)famous Qassim Soleimani, in what appears to be Baghdad’s Tahrir Square.”

In Iraq, the Shia protesters are chanting, “Get out, Iran! Free Baghdad!”

The people of Iraq are disillusioned by endless corruption, the sense of hopelessness, the wastage of energy resources, cronyism, the political elites being answerable to foreign powers, a deplorable infrastructure, poverty, high unemployment, and other issues. Thus, vast numbers of Iraqis can’t take any more despite the knowledge that death may await them. This is based on security forces and militias loyal to Iran killing protesters in horrendous circumstances. 

The BBC utters, “Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi will resign if political parties can agree on his replacement, the president has said, as mass protests continue.”

It remains to be seen how developments will unfold because Iran will still seek to hold the strings in Iraq. Similarly, with the power concentration mechanisms being weak in Iraq, then events are unpredictable. Hence, it appears that the blood will keep flowing in Iraq, while more Iraqis will be seen trampling on the painted flag of Iran.

https://www.france24.com/en/20191101-iran-anxious-as-popular-movements-threaten-its-influence-in-iraq-and-lebanon

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-50248954

 

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