Three demonstrators were killed yesterday in Baghdad in the midst of ongoing protests in Iraq demanding the "overthrow of the regime," while the religious authority, Sistani, the importance of completing a new election law.
According to medical sources, three demonstrators were killed and more than 30 injured in clashes between security forces and protesters near Jisr al-Ahrar.
The sources pointed out that two of the dead were shot dead, while the third died of a direct hit by a tear gas bomb.
Clashes erupted in al-Rasheed Street, one of Baghdad's most prominent heritage neighborhoods, near al-Ahrar Bridge, where protesters threw stones at security forces and security forces responded with tear gas.
The death toll brings to seven the number of people who died, less than 48 hours in Baghdad, after security and medical sources reported on Thursday that four people were killed in clashes on Wednesday night at the bridges of al-Senak and al-Ahrar.
The protests led to the severance of three main bridges between the two parts of Baghdad: the Republic and Ahrar and Senk. Protesters frequently seek to dismantle the cordon imposed by security forces on these bridges and cross from Rusafa to Karkh, where the Green Zone, home to most government offices and several foreign embassies, is located, which security forces are blocking.
Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, close to the three bridges, has become a major point of sit-ins and protests in which thousands attend daily. There are some nights of clashes between protesters trying to advance on the broken bridges, and security forces responded with bullets and tear gas.
Human rights organizations accused the security forces of firing tear gas directly, causing the deaths of some protesters for penetrating their skulls and chests.
Outside the capital, on the first day of the weekend, sit-ins and demonstrations continued on a large scale in cities such as Kut, Hilla, Najaf, Karbala, Nasiriyah and Diwaniyah.
Protesters showed their rejection of the steps of political power, and only the promises.
In the southern city of Kut, the capital of Wasit province, Naseer al-Qassab, a Kenana tribal leader, said during a demonstration in the city center: «We will continue to demonstrate, and determined to continue to demonstrate until the demands of the demonstrators to resign the government and dissolve parliament».
Surrounded by dozens of members of his clan, the clan leader said: "We strongly reject the punitive and repressive measures that the government talked about ... We will not leave the demonstration yards until our demands are met."
These protests came on the day of the sermon of the religious authority, Ali al-Sistani, which came brief.
The representative of Sistani, Abdul Mahdi Karbalai, that «the religious authority has clarified its position on peaceful protests demanding reform in last Friday sermon, through several points included the assertion of its peaceful and free from violence and sabotage and stress on the sanctity of Iraqi blood, and the need for political forces to respond to the rightful demands of protesters» .
He added in the sermon in the city of Karbala: «The reference, stressing the above, stresses the need to expedite the completion of the election law and the law of the Commission described in progress, because they pave the way to overcome the great crisis experienced by the country».
Sistani had warned last Friday that the protests would be a turning point in the situation in Iraq, and that «if they have power, they think that they can evade the real benefits of procrastination and procrastination, they are delusional».
Sistani's call comes after parliament convened Tuesday's session, which included consideration of possible cabinet reshuffles and the first reading of a new election law.
The proposed draft includes a series of amendments, including reducing the number of seats in parliament from 329 to 251, and the reduction of the size of electoral districts (from the province to the judiciary), and the way the distribution of votes in a complex and complex system.
The United Nations, which has recently played a key role in the search for a solution to the crisis and has presented an exit plan, highlighted by electoral reform in the wake of Sistani's reception in Iraq, its representative in Iraq, Jenin Hennes-Blachart, stressed the need to improve the new bill.
Iraq has a highly complex electoral system, which protesters believe favors parties and heads of lists and prevents radical change.
Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces reopened the port of Umm Qasr, after forcibly dispersing protesters who were closing it. Workers managed to enter the port for the first time since protesters closed it on Monday, but operations have not resumed as usual, port sources said.
«Commission» calls for the release of detainees
The High Commission for Human Rights in Iraq called on Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, the necessity of requiring the security services not to use live bullets and rubber, and tear gas, against peaceful demonstrators, and call on the Supreme Judicial Council to release peaceful protesters arrested. The Commission warned of the continued rise in cases of kidnappings and assassinations, which affected a number of demonstrators, bloggers, activists, lawyers and journalists from unknown sides.The UNHCR reiterates its call on the government and the relevant security agencies to investigate the fate of the abductees, release them and bring the perpetrators to justice. Baghdad - dpa