The Qatari Foreign Ministry's Consular Affairs Department on Friday urged Qatari nationals to wait and avoid traveling to Iraq due to mass protests which have been ongoing in the country since Tuesday
CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th October, 2019) The Qatari Foreign Ministry's Consular Affairs Department on Friday urged Qatari nationals to wait and avoid traveling to Iraq due to mass protests which have been ongoing in the country since Tuesday."According to the latest developments in Iraq, we urge citizens to not visit the country at the present time and leave immediately," the ministry said in a statement published on its official website.
The ministry also called on the Qatari citizens visiting Iraq to take caution and stay away from gathering places and to be in contact with the Qatar's embassy in case of emergency.
Earlier in the day, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani's representative, Ahmed Safi, delivered a Friday sermon in the Iraqi city of Karbala on behalf of the Shiite leader. Iraq's religious authority strongly condemned the attacks that took place over the past few days during the protests.
A source in the Iraqi human rights commission said late on Thursday that 31 people had been killed and 1,188 others had been injured in the unrest.
On October 1, the Iraqi capital and southern regions have been marred by violent protests. Protesters demand the ouster of the government, as well as economic reforms and the end of corruption. On Thursday, a curfew was declared in Baghdad and five southern provinces. Some checkpoints on the Iranian-Iraqi border were also shut amid the escalation.
