Thousands protest in Iraq after attack on protesters

are gone After an armed attack on a Central protest camp in Baghdad with 19 dead in Iraq, thousands of people on the road. In the Iraqi capital, the protesters gathered on Saturday in the vicinity of the attacked a protest camp.

"government forces were only a mile away and you have not intervened," criticized a young doctor who had supplied the night of the wounded. A drone attack on the house of a Shiite preacher, Moktada al-Sadr triggered meanwhile, fears of a further escalation of the crisis in Iraq.

Mostly young men, went to Baghdad on the road and remembered with flags on Friday for protesters killed. "They have intense and mercilessly fired on the demonstrators," reported an eyewitness in the vicinity of Tahrir square over the attack from the previous day.

"massacre"

"you have not admitted that we bring the Wounded to safety. It was a massacre," added the eyewitness. Also in the southern Iraq cities of Nasiriyah and Diwanijah rallies were held.

Armed men in Pick-ups were attacked on Friday after dark, a building in the vicinity of Al-Sinek bridge, in the anti-government demonstrators for weeks to endure. Security forces did not intervene. Panicked demonstrators ran to the street and called over Online networks, you in Tahrir square in the capital to join in.

al-Sadr, which supports the government-critical protests for some time, had instructed his followers on the night of the Saturday, to go to the streets and "to protect protesters". Many followed his call.

Al-Sadr's house in the southern Iraq city of Najaf was the target of a drone attack. Only one outer wall was taken, it became known on Saturday from circles of its movement. The preacher himself believed to be currently in Iran.

"This is a unique attack that could ignite a war, possibly a civil war," said al-Sadr's spokesman Salah al-Obeidi, the AFP news Agency. Dozens of supporters of al-Sadr's moved in on Saturday with flags and pictures of the preacher to his house and chanted: "We are all your soldiers!"

identification of the offender required

As the first high-ranking politician, President Barham Saleh, responded to the deadly attack on the protesters. He called on the authorities on Saturday to identify the "perpetrators and bring them to justice".

foreign diplomats have demanded consequences. The government in Baghdad had to protect the demonstrators and to "take immediate measures" against the unknown attacker, take, said British Ambassador Stephen Hickey.

The United Nations described the attack on the protest camp as an "atrocity". "Gang violence resulting from external loyalties, (...) from Iraq and the risk, to go on a dangerous track," warned the UN special envoy in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

at Least 460 Dead

Since the beginning of the government-critical demonstrations in Iraq the beginning of October, 460 people are killed and almost 20,000 more were injured. Because of the bloody repression of the protests, the United States imposed by militias on Friday sanctions against the three leaders of the Tehran-supported Hasched-al-Schaabi -.

In the course of the week-long protests of the Iraqi head of government, Adel Abdel Mahdi, had stepped in front of around a week back. Since then, discussions on the formation of a new government to run in Baghdad.

It is also involved in the Iranian General Ghassem Soleimani, the commander of the elite force for international missions of the revolutionary guards. The United States criticized Soleimanis participation in the negotiations sharp. (sda)

Created: 08.12.2019, 02:50 PM