Iraq: An escalation of the demonstrators and the Al-Kazimi government pays for calm on its first test

Mustafa Al Masoudi - Baghdad

Iraqi demonstrators resumed the sit-in squares in Baghdad and other southern cities, their protests on Sunday, after stopping for two months with the outbreak of Corona, and a number of writers and activists criticized the return to the protest, demanding that "a deadline" be given to the government of Mustafa Al-Kazemi formed a few days ago.

The demands of the demonstrators were concentrated in the city of Kut (Wasit Governorate Center, south of Baghdad), and Nasiriyah (Dhi Qar Governorate Center), ending with the Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, to hold those responsible for the violence that took place since last October and resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of wounded, and move towards Early elections.

In Tahrir Square, hundreds of people gathered since the morning hours in the context of an escalation that was prepared in advance under the title "A promise that the revolution will return".

The demonstrators gradually moved towards the riot police checkpoint on the bridge of the Republic, which links the Liberation Square to the Green Zone (where government and parliament headquarters and many embassies are concentrated), so that they were able to cross it for the first time since early October when the protests started.

Directed to calm
The activist in the liberation demonstrations, Muhammad Salim, says that most of the protest coordination was not escalated for health reasons, especially in light of the fears of the Corona virus, noting that discussion of opinions and communication with the protesters of the cities of Kut and Nasiriyah generated a collective opinion about the trend towards protest.

Salim added to Al-Jazeera Net that, despite his traditional rise, Al-Kazemi made decisions in his first government meeting - unprecedented and breaking the stereotypes of the "absurd" political process.

He pointed out that after the Sunday protests, efforts are under way to calm and reduce the escalation and return it to the first peace, especially after demonstrators demonstrated that they are present and awaiting effective reforms.

In the city of Kut, the demonstrators burned the headquarters of the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq faction led by Qais Khazali and the headquarters of the Badr Organization led by Hadi al-Amiri, while the city of Nasiriyah witnessed clashes with the police who fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.

Accounting the killers

Journalist Al-Hassan Tariq says that accountability for the killers of demonstrators cannot be achieved overnight, indicating that the new government has formed a higher committee of experts, and protesters, instead of escalation, must demand a time limit to reveal the results of their investigation, as is the case with the early elections.

Tariq added to Al Jazeera Net that the country is going through a health and economic crisis, and everything could collapse in the event of a rush towards an "unjustified" escalation, stressing that he personally stands against the way Al-Kazemi came to power, but there is no option but to give him an opportunity to fulfill the demands of the protesters. 

prioritization

The escalation situation, which demonstrators say is coming to protest the "mechanism of choosing the new government, quotas and stalling for months to implement the demands," was met by writers and journalists with a tag that spread on the communication sites titled "# Stopping the escalation and giving a deadline", given the set of decisions taken by Al-Kazemi during the past two days.

And the new Prime Minister decided, at the first meeting of his government on Saturday, to form a supreme legal committee to investigate all the events that took place since the first of last October and until today, and "in a manner that achieves justice and fairness, holding those who fall short of Iraqi blood and compensating the families of the martyrs and caring for the injured."

Al-Kazemi, who appeared on Sunday in the building of the retirement commission and supervised the distribution of pensioners' salaries that are ten days late, decided to release all detainees who participated in the demonstrations, with a directive to "protect peaceful demonstrators," according to a statement from his office.

The writer Ali Wajih believes that the demonstrations were and are still slogans peaceful, which prompted people to stand with them, pointing out that the word "peaceful" means rejecting all violent and unrepresented protest.

Wajih added to Al-Jazeera Net that the demonstrations in Iraq were a protest, not an armed struggle, expressing his surprise at "going out against a government that was not three days old, and one of the first things its president did to release the arrested protesters."

Although Al-Kazemi needs time to demonstrate his seriousness or evade the demands of the demonstrators, his government faces health challenges represented by the Corona virus and security after a remarkable activity by the Islamic State in a number of regions of Iraq, in addition to the financial crisis after the collapse of oil prices, whose revenues are the main source of state income In addition to maintaining a balanced relationship between the poles of the conflict in Iraq, Iran and America.