Thousands of Iraqis gathered in central Baghdad yesterday to demand the departure of the political elite in an event described as the biggest day of popular anti-government demonstrations since the fall of Saddam Hussein 16 years ago.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in different parts of Iraq, yesterday, for the eighth consecutive day, to confirm their demands to overthrow the government and dissolve parliament, and amend the provisions of the Iraqi constitution.
From last night until yesterday, thousands of demonstrators flocked to the demonstration and sit-in squares in Tahrir Square in Baghdad, and in other squares in a number of provinces, in an unprecedented scene in Iraq, carrying only the flags of Iraq. , And the amendment of paragraphs in the Iraqi Constitution.
Thousands have set up tents in Tahrir Square, central Baghdad, and thousands more have joined them.
Yesterday saw the largest crowd of demonstrators so far, with many taking to the streets after Friday prayers.
Police and hospital sources said more than 50 people were wounded during the night, Friday morning and midday, during clashes with Iraqi security forces.
Hundreds of people marched to the square from the side streets, denouncing the elites they accuse of corruption, saying they were conspiring against foreign powers and holding them responsible for the deterioration of living conditions.
In recent days, protests have been relatively peaceful during the day, with older people and young families joining them, but taking on a more violent nature after dark, while police use tear gas and live ammunition to counter youths calling themselves revolutionaries on the streets.
Amnesty International said security forces were using tear gas canisters “never known” in a military model that were 10 times more powerful than ordinary bombs.
In addition, a number of demonstrators, yesterday, closed the oil field Bazarkan in the province of Maysan, and prevented workers from access to it, according to local sites.
Protesters also closed the gate of the port of Umm Qasr in Basra, and stood before it, stressing their continued sit-in and demonstration until the fulfillment of popular demands.
A member of the High Commission for Human Rights in Iraq, Ali al-Bayati, revealed that four demonstrators were killed and 300 others injured in a new wave of violence affecting demonstrators in Iraq, while witnesses said that a demonstrator was killed yesterday by a sound bomb in Tahrir Square in Baghdad. Bayati said that «the statistics available to us on Thursday is the killing of four demonstrators and wounding 309 others wounded».
He added that «one of the volunteer medical detachments deployed in Tahrir Square, confirmed that it receives from 5-20 cases of burning in the skin daily, in addition to cases of temporary paralysis in the demonstrators, as a result of exposure to tear gas».
For his part, the highest religious authority for Shiites in Iraq, Ali al-Sistani, yesterday, reiterated the condemnation of the exposure of peaceful demonstrators. In a speech in Karbala, Sistani's representative called for respect for the will and demands of the demonstrators.
He also stressed that the reform in Iraq is due to the choice of the Iraqi people, and not to a certain party, saying: "No person or group or party with a certain direction or any regional or international party to confiscate the will of the Iraqis or impose their opinion on them."
He called for not «bloodshed, and not allow the country sliding into the shafts of internal fighting and chaos and devastation, which is possible if everyone cooperated to resolve the current crisis with sincere structures and souls full of love of Iraq». "The religious authority reiterates its well-known position on condemning the exposure of peaceful demonstrators," he said.
Sistani's position comes in an indirect response to the Iranian leader, who described the ongoing demonstrations in Iraq and Lebanon as "riots and chaos," saying that "the United States is provoking chaos today more than ever."
Al-Sistani, on Thursday, also confirmed his support for the reform demands of peaceful demonstrators, and not to differentiate between all those demanding reform of different orientations. The Iraqi News Agency, an official in the office of Sistani, that the reference confirms that participation in peaceful demonstrations the right of all Iraqis.
The reference also demanded the need not to exploit its name or raise its images by any groups participating in the demonstrations of supporters of political forces or other.