BAGHDAD—A child was killed on Wednesday, Oct. 2 in renewed clashes between demonstrators and Iraqi security forces, a day after at least two people were killed and 200 wounded in protests over unemployment, corruption, and poor public services.
At least eight protesters were wounded in the Zafaraniya district of southeast Baghdad when police and the army opened fire and launched tear gas canisters to disperse dozens of protesters, police sources said.
An interior ministry spokesman said one child was killed when a protester threw a bottle filled with gasoline at a vehicle carrying civilian passengers in Zafaraniya.
In northern Baghdad, about 200 protesters took to the streets of the Shaab district and blocked a key highway linking the capital to the northern cities. Soldiers went into the area to disperse them, police and eyewitnesses said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi chaired an emergency meeting of the national security committee, his office said in a brief statement without elaborating.
Small protests also took place in the northern city of Kirkuk and eastern province of Diyala.
“Our demands? We want work, we want to work. If they do not want to treat us as Iraqis, then tell us we are not Iraqi and we will find other nationalities and migrate to other countries,” said one protester in eastern Baghdad.
“We are demanding a change, we want the downfall of the whole government,” said another.
In a bid to cool tempers, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Tuesday promised jobs for graduates. He instructed the oil ministry and other government bodies to include a 50 percent quota for local workers in subsequent contracts with foreign companies.
Oil-rich Iraq has suffered hardships for decades, from rule by Saddam Hussein including years subject to U.N. sanctions, to the 2003 U.S. invasion and civil war it unleashed, and then the battle against the ISIS terrorist group, which was declared won in 2017.
Graft is widespread and basic services like power and water are lacking.
The main protest on Tuesday erupted in Baghdad, where one protester was killed, with some demonstrations taking place in other areas, including in the southern city of Nassiriya where a protester was also shot dead, according to police.
A government statement on Tuesday said 40 members of the security forces were among those injured and blamed “groups of inciting riots” for the violence.
The United Nations on Wednesday expressed concern over the violence and urged calm, with the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert reaffirming in a statement the right to protest.
“Hennis-Plasschaert urges the authorities to exercise restraint in their handling of the protests to ensure the safety of peaceful protesters while upholding law and order and protecting the people, public and private property,” it said.
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad urged all sides to avoid violence.
“The right to demonstrate peacefully is a fundamental right in all democracies, but there is no place for violence in demonstrations from any side,” an embassy statement said.
On Wednesday, security forces blocked several roads in Baghdad, including a bridge that leads to the fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign embassies, as part of tightened security measures, a security source said.
By Thaier Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh
