Baghdad, Oct 3: Iraq’s security forces have on Thursday open fired in the air in an attempt to disperse anti-government protesters summoned at Tahrir Square in capital Baghdad.
Following the second day of clash between anti-government protesters and security forces, Iraq Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has on Wednesday imposed curfew in Baghdad and other several cities in the wake of the mass rallies against poor services, lack of jobs and corruption.
Security forces fired live rounds and tear gas in an attempt to disperse the pro-democratic protesters in various suburbs.
The government assured it will address anti-government protesters’ concerns while accusing unnamed “rioters” of civil unrest in the nation.
In an official statement on Thursday, Mahdi said all “vehicles and individuals are totally forbidden to move” in capital Baghdad from 05:00 (02:00 GMT) local time.
“We are demanding a change, we want the downfall of the whole government,” one anti-government protester said in Baghdad. Moreover, Iraq’s interior ministry blamed “rioters who aimed to undermine the true meaning of the [protesters’] demands and strip them of peacefulness”.
On Tuesday, Mahdi expressed grave concern over the pertaining protests and vowed an inquiry “to learn reasons” behind the mass demonstration.
The province’s airport, government employees in hospitals, ambulances, electricity and water departments, as well as, religious pilgrims were exempted from the restrictions imposed. Curfew has been already imposed in Iraqi provinces of Nasiriya, Amara and Hilla.
The United Nations (UN) has called on Iraq to exercise maximum restraint. “Every individual has the right to speak freely, in keeping with the law,” UN special envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said.