The south of Iraq was on fire on Thursday, November 28, the death of 37 protesters victims of the police not weakening the attacks of the protesters against official buildings, including the consulate of Iran in the city Shiite saint of Najaf. In an effort to contain the violence unleashed on one of the deadliest days in two months of protests, the authorities sacked a general they had initially sent for " restore order " in southern Iraq.
The movement that conspires power in Baghdad and his Iranian godfather has reached a plateau, after violence that have in two months more than 390 dead and some 15,000 wounded, according to a balance of medical sources and police compiled by Agence France -Press (AFP).
A sacked military commander
In Nassiriya, the home town of Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, 25 protesters were killed and more than 250 wounded in a few hours after police arrived from Baghdad, according to doctors. But the protesters do not fall back: they first set fire to a police headquarters and then surrounded the military command of the province. Thousands then formed a funeral cortege in tribute to the demonstrators killed in the city center, defying a curfew imposed earlier and shouting that they would stay there "Until the fall of the regime".
Dozens of armed tribal fighters have been deployed on the highway from Baghdad, determined, they said, to prevent the arrival of more reinforcements. Evoking "Scenes of war" In Nassiriya, Amnesty International has accused Iraqi forces of "Appalling violence" and called on the international community to intervene "Stop the bloodbath".
The crackdown was launched after Thursday's appointment of a military commander for "Restore order" in the province. A few hours later, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi finally reversed his decision and fired General Jamil Al-Chemmari, after the governor of Nasiriyah threatened to resign if the military commander was not dismissed. its functions.
"Iran out! Victory to Iraq! "
Further north, in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, visited annually by millions of Iranian pilgrims, hundreds of protesters burned and then invaded the Iranian consulate on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, cries of "Iran out! " and "Victory to Iraq! ". Ten demonstrators were shot dead, according to doctors, while the government's human rights commission reported two other protesters killed in Baghdad.
Baghdad accused people "Foreign to the demonstrations" and wanting "Undermine historical relationships" between Iran and Iraq torched the consulate. Tehran claimed "A decisive action".
In Karbala, the other Shiite holy city, south of the Iraqi capital, clashes erupted between protesters and police, 19 of whom were wounded in the evening by grenades, according to a security source. .
For the protesters, the political system devised by the Americans who toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 is out of breath in one of the world's most oil-rich countries, but also one of the most corrupt. And, above all, power is under the control of Iran, which took the lead against the United States, and its powerful emissary, General Ghassem Soleimani. The latter managed to unite the Iraqi parties to close the ranks around Mr. Abdel Mahdi, a time in the hot seat.
Since the 1st October, the beginning of this unprecedented protest movement for decades, protesters demand the renewal of the system and the ruling class in a country where one in five lives below the poverty line and where, officially, 410 billion euros have have been diverted in the last sixteen years, twice the GDP.
Returning to the charge, the turbulent Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr warned that if the government does not resign, "It would be the beginning of the end of Iraq".
