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| - Anti-government protests that erupted in Iraq in October 2019 lasted several months before being crushed, at a cost of nearly 600 lives and 30,000 wounded. A timeline: On October 1, 2019, more than a thousand people respond to calls on social media in Baghdad and cities in the largely Shiite south to protest against corruption, unemployment and poor public services. Riot police use water cannon, tear gas, rubber bullets and then live fire to disperse demonstrators. As protests continue into October 2, the authorities close down Baghdad's high-security Green Zone, site of top state institutions and the US embassy. On October 3, thousands defy a curfew in several cities, but are pushed back by tanks. The internet is cut across much of the country. Influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr calls on the government to resign. Two days later, the cabinet announces land distribution, social welfare and anti-corruption reforms. Protests resume on October 24, a day before the one-year anniversary of Adel Abdel Mahdi becoming prime minister. The next day clashes leave more than 40 people dead, mostly in the south. Many protesters die in fires or are shot at as they attack the headquarters of Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary network dominated by Iran-backed factions and government ally. On October 28, students, professors and schoolchildren rally in Baghdad and southern cities. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tells Iraq to "remedy insecurity" and on November 1 Iraq's top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani warns against foreign interference. On November 9, after talks involving the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Qasem Soleimani, top leaders agree to keep the government in place. They also agree to stamp out the protest movement -- by force if necessary. After a major strike and continuing demonstrations, protesters on November 27 torch the Iranian consulate in the holy city of Najaf. The following day, 46 protesters are killed and about 1,000 wounded across Iraq. On November 29, Sistani calls for a new government. On December 1, Abdel Mahdi resigns. On December 6, Sistani urges the nomination of a new prime minister to be carried out without foreign interference. At least 20 protesters and four police officers are killed in Baghdad when gunmen attack a building where protesters had been camped out for weeks. On December 13, Amnesty International urges Baghdad to clamp down on what it calls a "campaign of terror targeting protesters". Protests intensify from December 22. On January 10, thousands of Iraqis rally across the country, with more protests 10 days later. Security forces break up demonstrations with live fire. On February 1, Mohammad Allawi is chosen to form a new government, but he gives up a month later after failing to secure a vote of confidence in parliament for a lack of quorum. On March 17, the former governor of the holy city of Najaf, Adnan Zurfi, is charged with replacing him, but he also drops out after facing rare political consensus against him. On April 9, spy chief Mustafa al-Kadhemi is asked to form a government. He is sworn in a month later. In July he sets an early parliamentary vote for June 6, 2021. On October 25, marking the first anniversary of the anti-government revolt, thousands of Iraqis head to Baghdad's Tahrir Square and Green Zone, in a bid to relaunch the protest movement. The protesters keep up their key demand -- the ouster of the entire ruling class in Iraq who they accuse of being corrupt and beholden to Iran. acm-eab/hkb
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