After a few days of calm, violence again exploded on Friday (December 6th) in Baghdad, where at least 12 protesters were killed when Washington denounced Tehran's "interference" in Iraq and imposed sanctions on militiamen. pro-Iranian.

These new deaths bring to 440 the number of deaths - mainly protesters - since the launch in early October of a large spontaneous movement of protest against power. Some 20,000 people were also injured.

Since supporters of pro-Iran paramilitaries demonstrated in Baghdad's Tahrir Square on Thursday, protesters feared a new outbreak of violence. It arrived Friday night, when armed men on board pick-ups landed on the edge of a huge multi-storey car park protesters had occupied for weeks near Baghdad, told AFP protesters.

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A dozen deaths

The balance sheet is currently set at twelve dead and dozens wounded, according to medical sources that specify it could still climb.

Shooting salvos with live ammunition, sometimes in complete darkness at the mercy of frequent power outages in Iraq, these gunmen managed to dislodge protesters from the car park, reported protesters and doctors who also said they had treated protesters wounded with knives.

Under the tents turned into field hospitals in Tahrir Square, ambulances brought injured protesters. Doctors were trying to save young men whose blood was flowing from their arms or their leg through the bullet, witnesses said.

"Foreign interference"

As for the car park, close to Tahrir Square, epicenter of the protest against power and its Iranian godfather, it was on fire, a fire caused by "unidentified" attackers, according to state television. The demonstrators, they, flowed back to Tahrir, chanting under the shots "By our soul and by our blood, we sacrifice ourselves for you, Iraq", according to videos shot live or put online by protesters.

The day was calm on Tahrir, however, where important gatherings were held, joined by religious dignitaries from Shiite shrines in the country. Shortly before, the great Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the highest Shiite religious authority in Iraq, had distanced himself from a political class conspired by the street since October 1 and called to reject "foreign interference" in the choice of the next leader of government.

The 89-year-old dignitary who is believed to have made and defeated all prime ministers since the overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein after the US invasion of the country in 2003, also said he played "no role" in the negotiations in view the designation of the next.

US sanctions

For several days, political parties have been trying to bring out a candidate acceptable to everyone in the country. Under the auspices of two emissaries from Tehran - General Qassem Soleimani and the Shiite cleric in charge of the Iraqi issue in the Lebanese Hezbollah, Mohammed Kaoutharani.

In the evening, the United States denounced a "serious violation of Iraqi sovereignty" and an "interference" Iran, while they unveiled a new list of Iraqi leaders targeted by sanctions. "The Iraqi people want their country back, they demand genuine reforms and they want reliable leaders who will put Iraqi national interests first," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

Washington's sanctions target three factional leaders of Hachd al-Shaabi, a pro-Iran paramilitary coalition now state-owned, for "serious human rights violations." These are Qais al-Khazali, leader of Assawi Ahl al-Haq, one of the most prominent pro-Iran factions of the Hashd, the "bete noire" of the Americans and already under sanctions, as well as Laith al-Khazali and Hussein al-Lami, head of the powerful Hashd security uniting the elite units of the coalition.

The latest man, the sulphurous Sunni politician Khamis al-Khanjar, is punished for "corruption", an endemic evil in Iraq that has already cost the country - one of the richest oil in the world - the equivalent to twice its GDP.

With AFP