After a bloody night in Najaf ... massive demonstrations in Baghdad and the United Nations enter the line

The Tahrir Square in central Baghdad witnessed massive demonstrations today to protest against the suppression of the demonstrators, while the head of the Iraqi caretaker government, Adel Abdul Mahdi, ordered the formation of a commission of inquiry into the events of Najaf that left dozens dead and wounded.

The demonstrators, most of them university students, carried banners denouncing the crackdown on demonstrations, the killing of demonstrators and attempts to force the protest to be broken.

Protesters continue to flock to Tahrir Square in Baghdad amid a state of cautious calm after limited confrontations during the previous days between the demonstrators and what are known as the blue-haired owners of the Sadrist movement who are trying to open roads and control the reins of affairs in the square in coordination with the security forces.

Cautious calm

This comes at a time of calm prevailing in the city of Najaf since this morning, after confrontations between gunmen belonging to the Sadrist movement and demonstrators, leaving ten dead and more than a hundred wounded.

The confrontations occurred when groups of so-called blue hats tried to storm the square that represents the protest center in Najaf, prompting the protesters to confront them, and confrontations occurred during which live bullets and Molotov cocktails were fired. The authorities announced the suspension of official working hours today.

For his part, a security source in the Najaf Police Command said, "Anti-terrorist forces deployed in Najaf and took over the management of the security file."

The Minister of the Interior, Yassin Al-Yasiri, ordered this morning to take security measures to protect the demonstration square in Najaf.

Prior to that, the Prime Minister-designate Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi - via his Twitter account - called on the resigned government to play its role to protect the demonstrators, until a government is formed that meets the aspirations of all Iraqis and derives its strength from the people and implements its legitimate and rightful demands.

European UN condemnation

This comes at a time when the head of the United Nations Mission in Iraq, Jenin Haines Blackshart, condemned - via today's tweet - violence against demonstrators in Najaf.

The UN mission said that Balsakhar condemns the violence against the Najaf demonstrators and the high number of casualties there, calling for ensuring that peaceful protesters are protected at all times, not too late.

For his part, Martin Hoth, the European Union’s ambassador to Iraq, asked, in a Tweet on Twitter, to hold the perpetrators accountable for the deaths of a number of youth squares in Najaf, south of Baghdad, yesterday.

"Intimidation and violence against demonstrators at the hands of armed elements, which last night's deaths in Najaf, is unacceptable," said Hoth. He stressed that those "heinous" acts hindered the achievement of any political progress.

These developments come after the protesters refused to assign Allawi to form the next government. And they demand an honest independent prime minister who did not hold high positions previously, as well as the departure and accountability of all political elites accused of corruption and wasting state funds.

The country has witnessed unprecedented protests since the beginning of October 2019, interspersed with confrontations and violence that left hundreds of people dead.