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Iraq

Armed group uses live bullets against demonstrators who prevented holding a Soleimani's memorial in Wasit

2022-01-09

[SHAFAQ] A force affiliated with the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq movement stormed a square downtown the city of al-Kout in Wasit after a group of demonstrators attempted to prevent the movement proponents of organizing a commemoration of Qassem Soleimani

, the commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Quds force, and the deputy commander of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

The commemoration ceremonials were scheduled to take place in the same square the demonstrators gathered in.

Eyewitnesses told Shafaq News Agency that the armed force deployed live bullets to disperse the demonstrators who torched tires on the roads and inside the square.

Rudaw adds:

According to the security source, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, some "150 to 200 demonstrators" stormed the ceremony in the Iraqi city of Kut, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

The protesters tried to "prevent" the commemoration, moving in just before it was due to begin and tearing down portraits of Soleimani and Muhandis, he said.

"Members of an armed faction opened fire and maimed two demonstrators," the source said, without giving further details.

Sajjad Salem, an independent member of parliament linked to an anti-government protest movement that began in October 2019, posted a video on Facebook showing gunnies in a square, with gunshots ringing out.

Salem said the video showed shots being fired by members of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq force, a key component of the Hashed.

The commemoration was suspended and security forces have deployed heavily though Kut, an AFP news hound said.

Detractors of the Hashed accuse it of acting on behalf of Iran, which wields considerable cross-border influence in Iraq, and accuse it of crushing the protests that began in 2019.

Posted by:Fred

00:00