ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi forces on Saturday took control of three Baghdad bridges anti-government demonstrators had occupied for several days, leaving protesters in Tahrir Square surrounded.
Iraqi forces took control of al-Sinek, al-Shuhada, and al-Ahrar bridges that span the River Tigris on Saturday, reported AFP. Four protesters killed and 108 wounded on Saturday as security forces cleared the three bridges that lead to Baghdad's Green Zone, medical and security officials told AP. Three of the protesters died from bullet wounds, while another died after a tear gas canister pierced his skull.
Protesters still hold some of the upstream al-Jumhuriya bridge, which leads to Tahrir Square where the main protest camp is entrenched. Posting on social media, protesters in Tahrir Square say they have otherwise been surrounded by security forces.
Recapture of control of the three strategic bridges has cut off a potential advance by protesters on Baghdad’s Green Zone, a heavily fortified area where many government institutions and foreign embassies are based.
At least 280 people have died and more than 11,000 have been wounded since protests against corruption, lack of employment, and lack of basic services began in Baghdad on October 1, before spreading to southern Iraqi provinces.
Resuming on October 25, protesters reassembled with renewed passion, taking control of Tahrir Square and its surrounding areas to demanding a revolution to sweep away political parties that have consolidated power in Iraq since the 2005 elections.
Security forces hope a recapture of Tahrir Square, the focal point of the protests, will shut down this second wave of protest. Force capture of the square during the first wave of protests proved a major factor in their de-escalation.
The government has made multiple announcements of reform in response to the protests, pledging to end corruption, deliver more job opportunities, and provide welfare support to Iraqi society's poorest. However, reforms have left protesters dissatisfied.
On Friday, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most influential religious figure, delivered a sermon that urged for protests to be kept peaceful, for real government reform, and for corrupt politicians to face justice.
In response to Sistani’s sermon, a beleaguered Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi released a statement on Saturday pleading for protesters to return home.
“The protests have helped and will help pressure political groups, the government… to reform and accept change,” Abdul-Mahdi said in a statement on Saturday. “However, continuing protests must allow for a return to normal life, which will lead to legitimate demands being met.”
To meet one demand made by protesters, he also promised to announce reforms to the electoral law within the next few days.
Elected Iraqi governments, whose composition has been based on sectarian and party quotas since 2005, have been dominated by Shiite, Islamist parties who have so far failed to deliver on promises to improve daily life.
"The protesters are demanding for ministerial reforms to move away from the quota system," Abdul-Mahdi said.
Soon after Abdul-Mahdi's statement, Sistani's office released a statement distancing itself from any deal to "keep the Iraqi government and crackdown on the protesters.”
Firebrand Shiite cleric and head of Iraq’s largest parliament bloc Muqtada al-Sadr appeared to target Abdul-Mahdi without making explicit reference to him.
“Stop suppression of the reforms voice. Leave, oh corrupted one," Sayirun bloc leader Sadr tweeted on Saturday.
Amidst live ammunition and military-grade tear gas canister fire on protesters and claims of activist disappearances, killings and kidnaps, the Human Rights Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) announced provision of a "dedicated” email address to which protest human rights violations and abuses can be reported.
"I encourage anyone with relevant information - whether witness or victim accounts, photos or video footage - to send them to us at this address,” UNAMI chief Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in the statement released on Saturday. “We continue to monitor and document human rights violations, cases of abductions, threats and intimidation country-wide as well as to raise them with relevant authorities."
The reporting of violations could prove difficult, as the Iraqi government enforces a series of nighttime cuts to internet service to prevent protesters from being able to contact each other.
Internet access remained limited on Saturday after a government shutdown earlier this week.
Netblocks, a civil society group that tracks internet restrictions, said web access had again been shut across most of Iraq after four hours of partial restoration on Saturday. There were still widespread internet outages in Baghdad and across the south early on Saturday evening, with access to social media heavily restricted.
