Thousands of Iraqis visited Baghdad’s iconic Tahrir Square and its high-security area on Sunday to mark the first anniversary of a protest against the country’s stagnant political class.
“This is a day, we are here to advance the movement,” said student Mohamed Ali in the square, the epicentre of the revolt.
The renewed mobilization has held back the protesters’ key call for the overthrow of all the ruling elegance accused of corruption and indebted to neighboring Iran.
Iraq is the world’s largest oil exporter right now, it has struggled to pay the wages of its inflated public sector.
“We have the same demands as the year,” Ali told the AFP.
During a revolt that lasted months in October 2019, thousands of protesters camped in Baghdad and southern cities was not easy, a full review of a political formula that failed to provide basic wages and wages.
Nearly six hundred protesters were killed and 30,000 injured in clashes with security forces before the motion lost momentum and then stopped in the spring due to the coronavirus crisis and emerging tensions between the United States and Iran.
Since Saturday, army checkpoints and barricades have been erected around the green zone, which is beyond the reach of Iraqi citizens.
The fortified green area, parliament area, government offices, and U. S. embassy are separated from the square via a bridge.
Riot police stationed around major avenues banned protesters from waving Iraqi flags from side to side.
Other parallel bridges were sealed.
In the absence of central leadership in the protests, activists are divided on whether to remain in Tahrir or head to the green zone in the face of the threat of an outbreak of violence.
Iraqis gather to revive the anti-government Wire Services / France 24.