More than 300 protesters were injured in clashes during anti-government rallies that resumed in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and across several provinces on Friday, leaving at least two people dead and a number of government institutions engulfed in fire, media reported
DAMASCUS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th October, 2019) More than 300 protesters were injured in clashes during anti-government rallies that resumed in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and across several provinces on Friday, leaving at least two people dead and a number of government institutions engulfed in fire, media reported."Two protesters were killed, 337 injured, 72 security forces were also injured," Iraqi news Agency said, citing the country's Internal Affairs Ministry.
The building of the election commission in the administrative center of the Al Muthanna Governorate, the city of Samawa, suffered arson attacks, according to the agency. It added that the civilian defense forces managed to extinguish the offices of a number of political parties that had previously been set on fire by protesters in the province of Wasit,
"The provocateurs who leaked into the ranks of the protesters tried to set the council building of Dhi Qar province on fire after they stormed and partially burned down the city hall building," the agency said.
Similar attempts to burn political parties' offices were reported from another southern province of Maysan. In addition, protesters blocked the Safwan checkpoint on the border with Kuwait and burned tires.
Earlier in the day, the Iraqi Shiite spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, urged the protesters and security forces to avoid violence and bloodshed.
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.
