Demonstrations in Iraq Continue, Gov’t Pushes Reforms
BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – Rallies continued in Iraq's capital and south Wednesday but the government pushes for reforms in order to put an end to weeks of demonstrations.
Protests demanding a new leadership have rocked the capital and south for weeks.
They dimmed for a few days in Baghdad and major southern cities but flared again Wednesday with demonstrations by striking students and teachers.
"We're here to back the protesters and their legitimate demands, which include teachers' rights," said Aqeel Atshan, a professor on strike in Baghdad's Tahrir (Liberation) Square, the epicenter of the protest movement.
In the southern port city of Basra, around 800 students returned to camp outside the provincial government headquarters days after they had been pushed out.
Schools were also shut in the protest hotspots of Diwaniyah and Nasiriyah.
Protesters have felt revived after the country's top Shia religious authority Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani said they "cannot go home without sufficient reforms".
"Students, boys and girls alike, are all here for a sit-in," another demonstrator in Tahrir told AFP.
Demonstrations erupted on October 1 in fury over a lack of jobs and corruption, initially fracturing the ruling class.
Cleric Moqtada Sadr took to Twitter on Wednesday to call on parliament to enact reforms and for "a general strike, even for one day," but did not demand the premier step down.
Sadr also lashed out at the United States for its interference in Iraq's internal affairs, threatening to take millions of demonstrators to streets if Washington keeps meddling in the Arab country.
Iraqi President Barham Salih says reforms that the government of embattled Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has pledged to implement in the wake of anti-government protests are a domestic Iraqi issue par excellence and will not be influenced by foreign diktats.
Salih, in a statement, announced that the expected reforms in Iraq are merely an Iraqi decision and will be implemented in response to the national will of the Iraqi people, and will be untouched by outside influences.
The statement added that the Iraqi president opposes any foreign interference in Iraq’s internal affairs, and will not accept it.
It further noted that Iraqi people make decisions within the framework of the constitution and based on national interests and respect for the will of the supreme religious authority.
Protests demanding a new leadership have rocked the capital and south for weeks.
They dimmed for a few days in Baghdad and major southern cities but flared again Wednesday with demonstrations by striking students and teachers.
"We're here to back the protesters and their legitimate demands, which include teachers' rights," said Aqeel Atshan, a professor on strike in Baghdad's Tahrir (Liberation) Square, the epicenter of the protest movement.
In the southern port city of Basra, around 800 students returned to camp outside the provincial government headquarters days after they had been pushed out.
Schools were also shut in the protest hotspots of Diwaniyah and Nasiriyah.
Protesters have felt revived after the country's top Shia religious authority Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani said they "cannot go home without sufficient reforms".
"Students, boys and girls alike, are all here for a sit-in," another demonstrator in Tahrir told AFP.
Demonstrations erupted on October 1 in fury over a lack of jobs and corruption, initially fracturing the ruling class.
Cleric Moqtada Sadr took to Twitter on Wednesday to call on parliament to enact reforms and for "a general strike, even for one day," but did not demand the premier step down.
Sadr also lashed out at the United States for its interference in Iraq's internal affairs, threatening to take millions of demonstrators to streets if Washington keeps meddling in the Arab country.
Iraqi President Barham Salih says reforms that the government of embattled Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has pledged to implement in the wake of anti-government protests are a domestic Iraqi issue par excellence and will not be influenced by foreign diktats.
Salih, in a statement, announced that the expected reforms in Iraq are merely an Iraqi decision and will be implemented in response to the national will of the Iraqi people, and will be untouched by outside influences.
The statement added that the Iraqi president opposes any foreign interference in Iraq’s internal affairs, and will not accept it.
It further noted that Iraqi people make decisions within the framework of the constitution and based on national interests and respect for the will of the supreme religious authority.