The day after one of the bloodiest days in two months of protest in Iraq, a large funeral procession marched on Friday, November 29, in Najaf, the holy city in the south of the country where many demonstrators were killed the day before.
Calm prevailed this morning in Najaf, visited each year by millions of Shiite pilgrims, including from Iran. Seven coffins were carried by the crowd, while doctors report a death toll of 16 on Thursday alone. Firing resounded until the early hours of the day before calm returned, AFP correspondents reported.
In Nassiriya, where in just a few hours 25 protesters officially fell under intense fire from the security forces, the protesters regrouped again in a square in the city center where they demanded the "fall of the regime" and the complete renewal of a political class that they accuse of being corrupt and incompetent.
Thursday, the city has been the scene of "scenes of war", according to Amnesty International, while doctors have reported to AFP have conducted dozens of heavy surgeries in crowded hospitals where the wounded - which are counted by the hundreds-- had to wait a long time before they could be taken care of.
While Nasiriyya feared Baghdad sending police and military reinforcements to the area, armed tribal fighters cut off the highway from the capital to protect protesters from further repression. They were no longer visible Friday, witnesses said.
With the 43 dead on Thursday - and nearly a thousand wounded - the record of two months of protest reaches nearly 400 dead in Iraq, according to figures compiled by AFP from medical sources and police.
Iraqis are now awaiting the weekly prayer and mid-day sermon of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. This tutelary figure of the policy supports the demands of the protesters but has not so far withdrawn its trust in the government, which it has repeatedly called for "restraint". Thursday's violence could change the game.
With AFP