LAST UPDATE: 22:12
Twelve supporters of Moqtada Sadr were killed and dozens wounded in Baghdad’s Green Zone today, where clashes erupted after the Shiite cleric announced he was “finally withdrawing” from politics, according to the latest tally from medical sources cited by AFP. .
About 270 protesters were injured – some by bullets, others by inhaling tear gas – in the chaos that erupted in the Green Zone, a well-guarded area of the Iraqi capital where foreign embassies and many ministries are based.
The Iraqi military administration has declared a nationwide curfew, while the UN mission in Iraq is appealing for restraint in a country where the political deadlock caused by parliamentary elections in October 2021 appears to be taking a new turn.
Young Sadr loyalists who took to the streets to protest their leader’s decision clashed with supporters of Tehran-backed groups. The two sides threw stones at each other outside Baghdad’s Green Zone, a heavily guarded area where many ministries and embassies are located.
Gunfire was heard throughout central Baghdad, according to reporters. At least some of the gunfire appears to have come from weapons fired into the air, but the source of all the gunfire is currently unclear.
According to police and medical workers, two people were killed and 22 others were injured.
The Iraqi army ordered a curfew from 3:30 p.m. local time (and Greek time) for Baghdad and from 7 p.m. for all of Iraq and called on protesters to leave the Green Zone.
The clashes began hours after Sadr announced he was retiring from politics. His supporters, who have been protesting for weeks in the parliament, in the Green Zone, then decided to demonstrate and hundreds of them stormed the House of the Republic, where the Council of Ministers is based. While they wandered around offices, sat in armchairs, jumped into the pool or took pictures, security forces intervened, firing tear gas to disperse the crowd at the entrance to the Green Zone, a source told AFP.
USA: The situation is “alarming”.
The United States is “disturbing” about reports of an upsurge in violence in Baghdad and is calling for “calm” and “dialogue,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said today.
The White House said the unrest in Iraq that erupted after powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr announced his retirement from politics is cause for concern and appealed for an end to the country’s political problems.
Kirby told reporters that Washington does not currently see a need to evacuate the embassy in Iraq and remove its staff.
SOURCE: APE-ME
Source: Capital
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