Iraq .. Mortar shell on the Green Zone and continued protests

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi security man was killed by a mortar round in Baghdad's Green Zone on Sunday, while security forces killed two people on Wednesday, as Baghdad and a number of provinces witnessed ongoing demonstrations demanding political and economic reform and fighting corruption.

Security sources said that one of the security personnel was killed and another wounded by a mortar shell near a checkpoint in the vicinity of the US embassy inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, which includes government buildings and the headquarters of diplomatic missions in central Baghdad.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces killed two people on Wednesday by firing tear gas canisters directly into their heads in a bid to stop protesters from entering the Green Zone, medical and security sources said.

And wounded 175 people as the influx of protesters of different sects and ethnicities in the center of Baghdad, to express anger at the political elite, which they see as mired in corruption and responsible for widespread economic suffering.

Al-Jazeera sources said that large numbers of demonstrators managed to cross the first security barrier, which was erected by security forces over the Al-Senak Bridge leading to the Green Zone and rushed to the second barrier, but the heavy use of gas bombs by the security forces forced the protesters to return.

The center of the Iraqi capital is witnessing mass demonstrations, where tens of thousands managed to reach Tahrir Square and Al-Sunk to participate in the demonstrations that have been going on for nearly a week against the continued spread of corruption and to demand political and economic reform.

Timeout for the government

In developments in the south of the country, tribes in the province of Basra (southern Iraq) gave the government 48 hours to release all detainees in the protests in the province.

The unions, associations, universities and employees of a number of ministries announced to join the protests that began last Friday in Baghdad and the central and southern provinces, against the government.

The Iraqi Human Rights Commission said Wednesday that the death toll from anti-government protests had risen to 100 in six days.

The UNHCR said in a statement that 5,500 other demonstrators and security personnel have been injured since Friday.

She pointed out that the security forces arrested 399 people during the protests, so far released 343 of them, while the damage to 98 buildings of public and private property.

The wave of new protests is the second of its kind this month, where protests in the country at the beginning of the month killed 157 people.

Political alert
Iraq's most powerful politicians apparently withheld their support from Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, as anti-government protests turned into the biggest demonstrations in the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

While Abdul Mahdi's fate was unknown, protesters said his ouster was not enough after four weeks of unrest in which more than 250 people were killed.

"Neither Muqtada nor Hadi," they chanted, denouncing what they saw as an effort by the two largest parliamentary blocs - Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and political rival Hadi al-Amiri - to cling to power from behind the scenes, both with the prime minister who helped him take office a year ago. without him.

Sadr asked Abdul Mahdi to call early elections, and when the prime minister refused, Sadr called on his main political rival to help him topple him.

Ameri issued a statement last night considered acceptance of Sadr's call to overthrow Abdul Mahdi.

"We will work together to achieve the interests of the Iraqi people and save the country in the interests of the public interest," Ameri said in the statement.

Earlier Wednesday, a source close to the presidency that the leaders of the Iraqi political blocs began to come to the Peace Palace to meet President Barham Saleh, to discuss a way out of the crisis in the country.

The source added that the meeting will discuss the challenges of ways out of the crisis, pointing to the existence of alternative names will be put at the meeting if the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, refusing to disclose those names.

The President's meeting with the leaders of the blocs is followed by another meeting of the three presidencies (President of the Republic, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament) to discuss the crisis in the country.