The Dhi Qar Governorate Police Command in the city of Nasiriyah (south east of Baghdad) imposed a curfew on late Thursday 28 November after witnessing a bloody morning where they said 17 protesters were wounded about 100 others injured, most of them shot with live bullets.
Lt. Gen. Jamil al-Shammari had taken over the security file in Dhi Qar Governorate on Wednesday evening 27 November, as the leader of the crisis cell formed by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
A security source said that al-Shammari has higher powers than the police chief, and all security formations including the Riot Police would become subject to his command.
A few hours after he took over the security file, the clashes took place.
The story began 3 am in the morning when riot police attacked demonstrators on the Zaytoun Bridge and brought heavy equipment to remove tents.
Riot forces (soldiers and police) used weapons to disperse protesters, and they removed their tents before reinforcements came from Haboubi Square and maneuvered with enlarging troops until sunrise, when troops used tear gas and bullets against protesters.
The protestors withdrew but demonstrations began again in the alleys and laneways, and clashes took place at the bridge and the surrounding areas, as well as near the lobby of the Municipal Office of Nasiriyah, the Directorate of Education and the South Hotel.
A medical source confirmed late on 28 December that the number of victims at the time was recorded at 17 dead and about 153 injured, the majority of them with live bullets, prompting the Dhi Qar Governorate Health Department to launch an urgent appeal for blood donation, especially for negative blood groups.
The medical source explained that the National Security Agency inside the Hussein Teaching Hospital had prevented any employee from accessing the records of deaths an injuries during the day, but he counted the above-mentioned toll himself. The source continued, “The majority of injuries of demonstrators were in the body areas of the abdomen and chest. https://sumer.news/ar/news/42840/القصة–الكاملة–لاحداث–ذي–قار–فجر–دامي–بعد–ساعات–من–استلام–الشمري–الملف–الأمني?fbclid=IwAR2ZWpfEmSA3DG1S2YQJaZLcI0beYRPXF1lhRYBh4QLQJ1KRkY3RzvuR7Wo#.XeBUYKy69jw.facebook
News of the killings spread and it was reported to the Muntafiq tribal confederation that 76 protestors had been martyred and more than 300 were wounded, some of them seriously.
Armed warriors from a number of tribes of the Muntafiq tribal confederation arrived and formed an armed escort to defend their tribal youths who were demonstrating in the streets. The tribesmen were videoed as they joined the demonstrators to protect them and chased away the riot police. https://www.facebook.com/missann11/videos/568897516988078/
Iraqis deserve access to adequate water and electricity, the right to form labor unions, and a government that provides roads and infrastructure. The present corrupt government is denying the people all their basic needs. The resignation of 5 government ministers, including the PM, in the past week must be followed by genuine change that addresses the needs of the masses and not just the elite.
[ray2wbt]
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday 28th November 2019 dismissed Lieutenant-General Jamil al-Shammari, army commander of Basra, against the backdrop of ongoing violent protests in the country’s south. al-Shammari had commanded troops and riot police in the city of Nasiriyah (south east of Baghdad) where a large number of young demonstrators were shot by riot police under al-Shammari’s command.
This earned the wrath of armed warriors from a number of tribes of the Muntafiq tribal confederation, who arrived in Nasiriya following the shooting of protestors, and formed an armed escort to defend their tribal youths who were demonstrating in the streets.
“The prime minister ordered that Basra Operations Commander al-Shammari be demoted to the post of rector of Iraq’s Defense University for Military Studies,” al-Abadi’s office said in a statement.
On Sunday 1st November 2019 an emergency session of the Iraqi parliament accepted the resignation of now-former Prime Minister of Iraq Adil Abdul-Mahdi al-Muntafiki – Abdul-Mahdi is actually a native of Nasiriyah and a tribal member of the Muntafiki!.
In a new development in the rapidly changing situation, an Iraqi court has just sentenced a police officer to death after convicting him of killing demonstrators, the first such sentence in two months of deadly civil unrest.
The Kut criminal court sentenced the police major to be hanged and jailed a police lieutenant colonel for seven years for their roles in the deaths of seven protesters in the southern city of Nasiriya on November 2, judicial sources said.
Another student in Mosul, Hussein Kheder, carrying an Iraqi flag, said the whole country was now on the same page politically and told AFP that “now the government needs to heed the protesters’ demands”.
In Salaheddin, a Sunni-majority province north of Baghdad where rallies were held for the first time, authorities had already declared on Friday three days of mourning for the victims. And eight Shiite-majority provinces convened a day of mourning on Sunday during which government offices remained shut.
ray2wbt @ http://ray2wbt.wordpress.com