At least one person was killed in a stampede as security forces were dispersing rally participants in the capital of Baghdad, head of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights Mustafa Saadoun told Sputnik on Friday
BAGHDAD (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th October, 2019) At least one person was killed in a stampede as security forces were dispersing rally participants in the capital of Baghdad, head of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights Mustafa Saadoun told Sputnik on Friday.
On Friday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi was addressing the public at Baghdad's Tahrir Square. The demonstration turned violent and security forces had to use tear gas and water cannons to subdue the protesters.
"One of the demonstrators near Tahrir Square was killed as a result of the stampede among the participants after the security forces used tear gas," Saadoun said in a statement.
Witnesses told Sputnik that over 30 demonstrators were injured by tear gas and taken to hospitals near Tahrir Square.
Anti-government protests resumed on Friday in the Iraqi capital, following a three-week hiatus in observance of a religious pilgrimage to the holy places in southern Iraq. The Iraqi Interior Ministry said on Thursday that its forces had been put on high alert across the country ahead of the expected resumption of protests.
On Tuesday, Iraq's ministerial committee probing the unrest published a report that said over 157 people were killed and another 5,494 people were wounded as a result of the protests in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces.
