Middle East Eye: The killing of "Umm Abbas" in Iraqi Nasiriyah is putting protesters to the test

Despite the pandemic and the deteriorating economic situation in Iraq, anti-government demonstrators tried to keep the protest movement, which lasted for six months, alive, but they remained vulnerable to attacks, and the best evidence for this is the killing of activist Anwar Jassem Mhawas (Umm Abbas), in the city of Nasiriyah (Center of Dhi Qar Governorate, southern Iraq) last Sunday.

A report of the Middle East Eye website stated that masked gunmen smashed the front door of the victim's house, before shooting her eldest son Abbas, then they followed her inside the house and shot her five shots, and then they shot her second son while they were leaving the crime scene.

The streets of Nasiriyah and the Haboubi Square (city center) last Sunday were crowded with people, when the funeral procession of "Umm Abbas" was transported, in violation of the curfew rules imposed in the country for fear of an outbreak of the Corona virus.

Last March, demonstrators were forced to formally suspend the protest movement, as a precaution against the Coruna outbreak.

Umm Abbas was known to provide food for the demonstrators despite her poverty, and she also chanted slogans in the yard of Haboubi. A few days before her death, she appeared in a video clip calling for the protests to resume and the curfew to be broken.

A split between the protesters

According to the report, while some protesters sympathized with the death of Umm Abbas, most of them refused to gather to avoid the dangers of Corona.

In this regard, activist Raad Al-Ghazi stated that "attempts to break the curfew and calls made by activists caused confusion among the protesters, caused health concerns, and led to clashes between protesters and security forces," considering that the killing of Umm Abbas represented an opportunistic step aimed at Weakening the protest movement.

"I think that the assassination of Umm Abbas is nothing but an attempt to raise problems between the demonstrators to break relatively peaceful relations with the security forces, in the context of preparing to remove the tents of the sit-in protesters in Habboubi Square," he added.

On the other hand, another activist - who did not want to be identified - said that the "assassination operation" is an attempt to deter protesters from participating in the demonstrations and to push other influences to retreat.

The site indicated that hundreds of protesters have been killed and dozens of activists have been assassinated since the start of anti-government protests since last October, and protesters in Nasiriyah - which has become one of the main centers of protests - have long been threatened and attacked.

And the website quoted Wali Jabbar, a prominent activist and founder of the independent Voice of Habibi Radio, that "some militias with political affiliations tried to spread rumors that Anwar Jassim received money in exchange for provoking the demonstrators, but she is innocent of all these accusations."

He pointed out that Umm Abbas was patriotic and influential and ready to make sacrifices, adding that her loss "is a painful blow, but we will continue the path she started, and we will make her dream come true one day."

According to another activist - who declined to be identified - from Nasiriyah, "because of the current situation, the protests stopped, but activists and protesters swore to strongly resume them once the curfew was lifted."