Tribes .. A haven for protesters and the authority to control the situation in Iraq

Protests have been going on in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities since early October, with thousands marching to demand political reforms.

Iraqi tribes have not been absent from the scene, especially in recent days when demonstrators were subjected to excessive violence, particularly in the southern provinces.

Support for the demonstrations was not confined to the tribes of the south, but enjoyed wide support by the people of the northern and western regions of the country, where tribal elders of Salah al-Din province (north of Baghdad) with the demonstrators and supported the movement of protests in Iraqi cities.

Intervened for the benefit of the protesters
Since the outbreak of the demonstrations, the province of Basra in the south of the country has witnessed a campaign of arrests by the security forces, which led to the detention of dozens of protesters and activists, which called on the tribal leaders of the province to intervene and pressure the authorities to release them.

A video of the tribes of the southern province of Nasiriyah carrying weapons was spread after its people were subjected to excessive repression by security forces.

The tribal elders of Karbala province (south) refused to attack and override public property by some outlaws, and stood in their faces and protected government buildings and public property.

In another video, the police chief of Dhi Qar province, Muhammad al-Quraishi Abu al-Walid, orders the security services to stop firing on demonstrators and withdraw security forces from the city center, after the elders pressed him.

On the twentieth of last month, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi resorted to the elders of the Iraqi tribes to talk with them to discuss ways to calm popular anger and discuss the effective solutions to get out of crises.

The acceptance of this call by Abdul-Mahdi by some tribal sheikhs has led to different reactions in popular and political circles, but often angered the protesters.

A prominent role
Regarding the role of the clans in the current protests, political analyst Ghanem al-Abed explained that this role did not appear at the beginning, but the demonstrators confronted the violence and killing then the tribes felt that their children face great risks, which led them to intervene to control the situation and protect their children from the killing machine.

He added in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net that there is another role for the clans is to support the demands of the demonstrators and control security and prevent the outlaws from sabotage and deportation of engineers or parties seeking to end the demonstrations, he said, adding that "the entry of clans in the demonstrations gave the demonstrators strength, and it is a message to the government that they They will not be silent about killing their children. "

For his part, adviser to the President of the Council of Representatives for Tribal Affairs Sheikh Ali Kazem Zuair Al-Sadoun, clans in relation to the current protests into three sections: the first who are with the demonstrators, and the other section clans belonging to the government, and the third type is the tribes that are neutral and do not want to prejudice the state or exposure "We as clans want to improve the current situation for the better, both with the current government and with the next government," he said.

"Our role is to reduce bloodshed. We have intervened to prevent the security forces from using excessive violence against demonstrators. The tribes always stand with the protesters if their children are killed or when the state takes up arms against the people, but in the current circumstances, we are neutral, Where police forces and riots are part of the people. "

As protests escalate and protesters' demands fall, tribesmen are boosting their presence on the scene to achieve the reform demanded by Iraqis.

Iraqi status
It is noteworthy that the tribal system plays an important role at the social and political level in Iraq, where the opposing parties resort to the clan to solve its problems, and sometimes interfere in political issues because of the status of the tribal leader of the people and the government alike.

In 2016, the Iraqi Council of Representatives voted to form a committee of reconciliation, clans, and religious affairs within 23 permanent committees, for political representation and the organization of tribal affairs. .

The presence of the tribes was evident in the stand against ISIS during its control of several Iraqi regions in 2014, and it made many sacrifices during its fight against IS until it was expelled from the areas it controlled.