Le Monde: Internet chaos and closure .. Where is Iraq heading?

LONDON (Reuters) - The dismissal of anti-terrorism chief Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi, the "hero" of the war against Islamic State, has rekindled the underlying social and political protests in Iraq, Le Monde newspaper reported.

The newspaper reported that the demonstrations violently suppressed resumed Thursday morning in Baghdad, despite the curfew imposed at night, noting that gunfire was heard by riot police in the early hours of the day.

Testimonies and videos, of which very few have been received because of the Internet shutdown, have been showing chaos in many cities since yesterday evening.

The protest movement, which began Tuesday in the capital against corruption, unemployment and the degradation of public services, spread and intensified its promises over the hours in the face of repression of security forces, noting that 13 people were shot dead, including a policeman, and injured 400 others within 24 hours, according to an official report Final.

The paper linked Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi's decision to dismiss al-Saadi, who she said was the "hero" of the war against IS, and the flare-up of the underlying social and political protest, she said. The ruling classes corrupt the world and the disadvantages of sectarianism.

Unemployment and corruption
Two years after the end of the war on IS, and amid the slow recovery of the oil country, the Iraqis seemed desperate for reforms to improve public services in the face of chronic shortages of electricity and drinking water, and the creation of jobs at a time when the unemployment rate of 25% among young people.

From the first wave of anti-corruption and pro-reform protests in 2015-2016 to the 2018 summer demonstrations in the south of the country, the social protest has turned into a rejection of the political and religious authorities that have existed since the US invasion in 2003, and accused of sacrificing national interest on the altar of their own interests or those of Iran, the patron of the country's powerful Shiite militias.

"The demonstrations are not just about water and corruption," says researcher Maria Fantabe of the International Crisis Group. "They are now an alternative to influencing Iraqi politics, which has been dominated by a few politicians and has been on a vicious circle since 2003."

The call for demonstrations broadcast on social networks on Tuesday mobilized hundreds of people frustrated by the performance of successive governments, unemployed graduates and critics of corruption against "thieves who looted the state".

Live fire to disperse the crowd
In the face of its first popular test, less than a year after its inauguration, the Mahdi government took a firm choice, the paper says, and its security forces fired live ammunition to disperse the crowds, preventing them from entering the Green Zone, which hosts most state institutions and foreign embassies, from the early hours. Of protests in Baghdad on Tuesday.

The repression of the movement exaggerated the protesters' anger and violence. When the first victims were announced, thousands of protesters gathered in Baghdad and the south of the country at night and Wednesday, shouting "You are killing protesters, shame on you dictators!"

Despite the UN's call for restraint, riot police again fired on Wednesday at angry protesters demanding "the fall of the regime" after they burned tires and cut off main roads, especially towards the airport.

Amid this atmosphere, the Green Zone, which opened in June, was reopened to traffic after years of curfew. Protesters in several cities in the south of the country attacked and burned the headquarters of some local authorities, resulting in a curfew imposed early in the evening in Najaf. Nasiriyah, although not a little impact on mobilization.

Call for a general strike
Abdul Mahdi's government blamed the violence on those it described as "saboteurs and architects," but the parliament's human rights committee denounced "repression" and called for those responsible to be held accountable.

"Security forces are there to protect the rights of citizens, including the right to peaceful protest," said Iraqi President Barham Salih. "Our youth want reforms and action, and we have a duty to meet these legitimate demands."

The previous day, in an effort to quell the conflict, the prime minister promised jobs for young graduates.

At a time when the government seems more fragile than ever, fears are growing that the call by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday for a "general strike" and a "peaceful sit-in" on Twitter events will intensify, especially since Sadr showed in the fall of 2015 his ability to mobilize thousands He was a supporter in Baghdad and southern cities, allowing him to play nationalist and non-sectarian cards against Shiite factions close to Iran.