Iraq's day of rage - and its aftermath

Thousands join 'Day of Rage'

The Guardian reports (February 25^th): Anger over corruption and abysmal basic services erupted in a "Day of Rage", with the most serious clashes in Mosul and Hawija, in the north, and Basra in the south. At least six people were killed – three in Mosul and three in Hawija – and 75 injured in clashes with security services as protesters tried to attack government buildings.

Thousands of people made their way to the city's Tahrir Square, but soldiers had closed it off with razor wire, using percussion grenades and firing in the air in an attempt to disperse crowds.

In Basra, the city's governor, Shaltagh Abboud, said he would resign after 18 people were wounded in skirmishes between the 4,000 protesters and state security. There were also clashes in Falluja and Nassiriya.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/25/thousands-join-day-of-rage-across-middle-east

Five killed as unrest erupts around Iraq

CNN adds (February 25^th):  Demonstrators clashed with security forces around Iraq in confrontations that killed at least five people and wounded many others.

raqi security forces opened fire to disperse crowds after protesters tried to enter the provincial council building in Anbar province. Security forces also opened fire to disperse crowds in two small towns in Salaheddin province, wounding eight protesters, police said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/25/iraq.protests/index.html

Demonstrations Turn Violent in Iraq

NY Times adds (February 25^th):  Iraq’s “day of rage” on Friday ended with nearly 20 protesters killed in clashes with security forces. Dozens more were wounded, and several local government offices lay smoldering and ransacked.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/world/middleeast/26iraq.html?ref=middleeast

Protesters across Iraq clash with security forces

LA Times adds (February 25^th): As many as 5,000 people, mainly young men, had massed in Baghdad's Tahrir Square in the late morning. They tried to push past a barrier of blast walls over the Jumhuriya Bridge and into the heavily protected Green Zone, site of the parliament and politicians' homes. ¿¿¿

As the protesters toppled part of the barrier, hundreds of riot police officers marched over the bridge to block their path. The officers came under a hail of stones as angry demonstrators chanted that Prime Minister Nouri Maliki was a liar and that they would not leave.

"Most people want to get inside the Green Zone and ask Maliki where the country's money is," said Adel, 33, a taxi driver who did not want to give his last name.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-protest-20110226,0,2300792.story

4 Iraqis Killed; 189 Wounded

Antiwar.com adds(February 25^th): At least 34 Iraqis were killed and 189 more were wounded in demonstrations and other violence. The figures are likely to be higher as some reports had propotionally low figures for civilian wounded. Also, members of Human Rights Watch reported seeing Baghdad police attack protestors earlier this week, while Reporters Without Borders condemned aban on live coverage of events from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square.

http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/02/25/friday-21-iraqis-1-us-soldier-killed-57-iraqis-wounded/

Iraq “day of rage” protests shake US occupation regime

WSWS reports (February 26^th): Tens of thousands protested in cities throughout Iraq  against the economic oppression and corrupt officials imposed by the US occupation regime, as well as the US occupation itself.

Complaining of joblessness, worsening electricity outages, food shortages, and rising food prices, they denounced or demanded the resignation of several national and local officials. Even though Iraq has the world’s second-largest oil reserves, social conditions are atrocious. The official unemployment rate is over 15 percent (in reality much higher), large parts of Iraq have only a few hours of electricity a day, and the country is still occupied by 47,000 US troops—with Iraq’s oil fields now largely in the hands of Western energy firms.

Iraqi security forces fired on protestors in several of the at least 17 cities where protests took place. Fifteen demonstrators were confirmed killed and at least 130 were wounded.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/iraq-f26.shtml

Deadly protests rock Iraq

Al-Jazeera reports (February 26^th): Al Jazeera has obtained pictures which appear to show police shooting at protesters in the Iraqi city of Falluja, during Friday's deadly nationwide "day of rage".

An unprecedented lockdown of Iraq's capital failed to deter thousands of Iraqis from protesting, serving notice that the anti-government rage sweeping the Middle East will not be easily extinguished in Baghdad.

The "day of rage" protests rocked other Iraqi cities as well, as demonstrators burned or tried to storm government buildings from the southern port of Basra to the northern cities of Mosul and Falluja, where at least 12 protesters were shot dead by security forces.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112266209569837.html

Iraq 'Day of Rage' protests followed by detentions, beatings

Washington Post reports (February  26^th): Iraqi security forces detained hundreds of people, including prominent journalists, artists and intellectuals, witnesses said, a day afternationwide demonstrations brought tens of thousands of Iraqis into the streets and ended with soldiers shooting into crowds.
Four journalists who had been released described being rounded up well after they had left a protest at Baghdad's Tahrir Square. They said they were handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten and threatened with execution by soldiers from an army intelligence unit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/26/AR2011022601854.html

 Bad Day for freedom of press and democracy in Iraq

Aswat al-Iraq reports (February 26^th):  The Iraqi Society for the Defense of Press Freedoms have condemned the detention of journalists, who covered the  Baghdad demonstrations on Friday, considering the 25^th of February as a “bad” day for the freedom of press and democracy in Iraq.

It said that “Al-Diyar TV Channel had been attacked by a military force, who detained 7 of its members and stopped its transmission, because it carried reports about the demonstrations in Baghdad’s al-Tahrir Square and some other provinces.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/Default1.aspx?page=article_page&id=141194&l=1

Iraq PM gives ministers 100 days to shape up

CNN reports (February 27^th): Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gave government ministers 100 days to deliver results and eliminate corruption or be fired, the government announced after an emergency cabinet meeting.

On Saturday, protesters in Samarra defied curfew to attend the funerals of two people killed during protests there, chanting "God is great" and "Down with the government."

Security forces battled some of the protesters and later opened fire to disperse the crowd, wounding at least eight, police said.

Demonstrators attacked the city council building and set it on fire in Kubaisa, a small town in Anbar province west of Baghdad, police said.

Ali Ghaim al-Maliki, the head of Basra's security council, told reporters that at least 71 people were wounded in Friday's clashes -- including 51 security forces and 20 anti-government protesters.

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/27/iraq.politics/index.html