vendredi 20 mai 2016
Iraq crisis: Green Zone protests end in violence and curfew
They fired tear gas and live bullets
to drive back the mainly Shia Muslim crowds, as they protested against
corruption and security failures.
Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr
condemned the use of force.
It was the second time this month
that protesters had managed to break into the city's government area.
Mr Sadr voiced support for the
demonstrators' "peaceful [and] spontaneous revolt".
At least 50 demonstrators are said
to have been wounded.
The protesters accuse the government
of neglecting much-needed reforms, as it struggles with its campaign against
the so-called Islamic State group (IS) and declining oil revenues.
The Sunni jihadist group controls
parts of western and northern Iraq and has been behind a wave of recent attacks
that have left dozens killed.
Some demonstrators managed to break
into the prime minister's office and parliament.
Baghdad's Green Zone houses the
parliament, key government buildings and many foreign embassies.
The authorities later said they had
completely regained control of the area and the protesters had withdrawn.
The curfew on the capital will
remain in place until further notice, state TV reported.
Security personnel have been asking
shops to close down and have been blocking streets with concrete blast walls,
residents told AFP news agency.
Who
is Moqtada Sadr?
The Shia cleric and his militia
group, the Mehdi Army, gained prominence after the US-led invasion of Iraq in
2003. galvanising anti-US sentiment.
Mr Sadr's followers clashed
repeatedly with US forces, whose withdrawal the cleric consistently demanded.
An arrest warrant was issued for Mr
Sadr in 2004 in connection with the murder of a rival cleric.
His militia was also blamed for the
torture and killing of thousands of Sunnis in the sectarian carnage of 2006 and
2007. Mr Sadr fled to Iran during that period.
In 2011, Mr Sadr returned from his
self-imposed exile to Iraq, taking a more conciliatory tone and calling for
Iraqi unity and peace.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who
came to power in 2014, has promised to stamp out corruption and ease sectarian
tensions.
He has been pressing for radical
reforms and wants to form a government of technocrats, but has been blocked by
lawmakers, the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad reports.
Parliament is so deeply split that
it cannot hold a meeting because no side can gather a quorum, our correspondent
adds.
Iraq's system of sharing government
jobs has long been criticised for promoting unqualified candidates and
encouraging corruption.
The
government is carefully balanced between party and religious loyalties but the
country ranks 161st of 168 on
corruption watchdog Transparency International's corruption perceptions index.
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