ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Protesters who have occupied Baghdad’s Tahrir Square since October say their demands are more valid and urgent than those who marched for a full US withdrawal from Iraq on Friday. They say all foreign troops, including Iranian forces, should leave.
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr led a demonstration in Baghdad on Friday denouncing the presence of US forces in Iraq in the aftermath of the US drone strike which killed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) General Qasem Soleimani at Baghdad airport on January 3.
The march, which was kept separate from the protest camps in Tahrir Square, attracted far fewer than the “million” protesters Sadr had hoped to mobilize.
Sadr’s demonstration was backed by almost all of Iraq’s Shiite political parties and the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi.
The young pro-democracy protesters occupying Tahrir Square, however, say they remain committed to their original demands for jobs, public services, and an end to corruption, the rejection of the Shiite political establishment, and all foreign interference.
Camped out on Muhammad al-Qasim Highway Bridge, Mustafa, 26, told Rudaw English on Friday he and other protesters did not participate in the anti-US demonstration because it was backed by political interests.
“Hundreds of protesters have been killed since October 2019, but Sadr and his supporters did not organize million-person rallies for the sake of the martyrs,” Mustafa said.
“Today the Sadr rallies were all chanting and supporting a specific issue and did not chant or storm the streets for the rights of the people, or against corruption. It was political.”
Young Iraqis took to the streets of the country’s southern and central cities on October 1, protesting the lack of basic services, rampant corruption, and high unemployment.
After a short pause for the Shiite religious observance of Arbaeen, the protests resumed with fresh demands for the overthrow of the post-2003 political establishment.
More than 600 people have been killed and around 18,000 injured in clashes since October 1 between protesters, security forces, and pro-Iran militias, according to Amnesty International.
Ahmed, 38, an activist in Tahrir Square, told Rudaw English on Friday that the biggest peaceful protest in Iraq since 2003 is the Tahrir Square movement.
“Our protests are the real one, as it is also the biggest peaceful protests and event in the modern history of Iraq since 2003,” Ahmed said.
“They are rallying against the US presence in Iraq, but we are protesting against the entire presence of foreign troops in our country.”
“There are some political parties in Iraq that represent a more dangerous invader in the country,” Ahmed added, referring to the Shiite political parties who foster close ties with Iran.
The Tahrir Square protesters have been vocal about their opposition to Iranian influence over Iraq’s political and civic life.
Protesters have targeted the headquarters of Iraq’s Shiite political parties, pro-Iran militias, and Iranian consulates, accusing Iraq’s eastern neighbor of interfering in its domestic affairs.
One older protester in Tahrir Square with an Iraqi flag wrapped around his shoulders told Rudaw on Friday he is against all foreign troops in Iraq.
“I am against all the foreign troops’ presence in Iraq, including US and Iran,” the protester said. “All the political establishment and parties in Iraq have been brought by the US and Iran since 2003.”
Sadr is among several Shiite clerics and politicians who returned to Iraq from exile after the fall of the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Sadr founded the Mahdi Army to resist the US occupation of Iraq, maiming and killing scores of US servicemen. In 2008, he disbanded the Mahdi Army and retreated to Iran, reportedly for religious studies.
He returned to Iraq in 2014 and rebranded the Mahdi Army as the “Peace Brigades” to fight the Sunni jihadist Islamic State group (ISIS).
Since then, Sadr has presented himself as a figure unbeholden to sectarianism, shunning foreign influence in Iraqi affairs.
A middle aged protester in Tahrir Square told Rudaw on Friday that Sadr’s anti-US demonstration will not undermine their pro-democracy movement.
“The Sadr million-person rally is a support and a back up to the original protests we started back in October 25,” the protester said. “The anti-US demonstration is against the presence of foreign troops on our land and corruption, and these are the main reason we started the protests on October 25.”
However, the slogans and chants of Friday’s demonstration were mainly targeted against the US and Israel. Iran’s presence in Iraq was not mentioned.
Previously, Rudaw reported that many of the Tahrir Square protesters were refusing to participate in Friday’s march as they believed it should have demanded both a US and Iranian withdrawal. Many fear Iraq could become the site of a proxy war between Washington and Tehran.
The US has around 5,000 troops stationed in Iraqi military bases across the country to advise, assist, and train Iraqi forces in the fight against ISIS remnants. Meanwhile, at least 65 PMF units in Iraq are being trained by Iranian commanders.
The PMF was created in 2014 following a fatwa, or religious call to action, from Iraq’s highest Shiite religious authority, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in response to the ISIS insurgency.
Qais al-Khazaali, Secretary General of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, a PMF unit, tweeted on Friday that the “the idiot Trump needs to understand and realize that the million-person demonstration today in Iraq against the presence of the US troops was a clear message that Iraqis refuses US presence, and if you [Trump] do not withdraw by your own will, you will leave whether you like it or not, and this is a promise from the resistance forces.”
With additional reporting from Baghdad by Mustafa Goran
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