BAGHDAD: At least 28 civilians and security personnel were injured on Saturday in clashes in Baghdad, where thousands rallied to commemorate the third anniversary of street protests demanding reforms in the country.
Nineteen members of security forces were injured after “infiltrators among demonstrators” threw rocks, glass balls and Molotov cocktails at troops in the Iraqi capital, the military-linked Security media cell said.
Nine civilians were also injured in the violence, the military added in a statement without elaborating.
Earlier on Saturday, security forces on Baghdad’s Al Jumhuriya Bridge fired tear gas after dozens of demonstrators approached concrete barriers set up as part of security measures, causing many to suffer breathing problems, witnesses said.
Thousands of Iraqis from across the country have converged on Baghdad since the early hours of Saturday to mark the anniversary of the start of the 2019 mass protests. Those turned violent, leaving around 600 demonstrators dead, according to official figures.
Demonstrators on Saturday renewed demands for political reforms and justice for those involved in protester killings.
“We’ve come to make freedom and not to engage in a showdown with security forces,” protester Saif al Musawi said in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the 2019 anti-government protests.
Many protesters raised the Iraqi flag and portraits of compatriots killed in the unrest.
Others wore white shirts inscribed in red with a 2019 protest slogan reading: “We want a nation.”
Saturday’s rallies were staged amid a months-long political stalemate in Iraq. Rival political forces in the country have failed to form a government since parliamentary elections were conducted in October 2021. – dpa
