BAGHDAD, Nov 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi sacked the military commander he had dispatched earlier in the day to “restore order” to a protest-hit southern city after a crackdown there killed 25 protesters.
Abdel Mahdi, who is also the commander-in-chief of Iraq’s armed forces, had ordered military chiefs to deploy across the south on Thursday morning, sending Jamil Shummary to the city of Nasiriyah.
But state television announced the premier had “withdrawn” Shummary from the post by the afternoon.
Nasiriyah was in bloody upheaval Thursday after a government crackdown killed 25 protesters and thousands defied a curfew to march in their funerals, following the dramatic torching of an Iranian consulate.
Late Wednesday, protesters outraged at Tehran’s political influence in Iraq burned down the Iranian consulate in the shrine city of Najaf, yelling “Victory to Iraq!” and “Iran out!”
In response, Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi early Thursday ordered military chiefs to deploy in several restive provinces to “impose security and restore order”, the army said.
But by the afternoon, after the protesters’ deaths, the premier had already removed one of the commanders, General Jamil Shummary.
The provincial governor in Nasiriyah, Adel al-Dakhili, blamed the crackdown on Shummary, who was the military commander of the southern port city of Basra when demonstrations there were brutally suppressed in 2018.
Dakhili demanded the premier sack him, and hours later, state television announced Abdel Mahdi had ordered Shummary removed from the post.
Thousands of Nasiriyah’s residents took to the streets to mourn the city’s dead in funeral processions, defying a curfew announced there earlier in the day.
Events in southern Iraq have unfolded dramatically since late Wednesday, when protesters stormed the Iranian consulate in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
Demonstrators across Iraq have blamed powerful eastern neighbour Iran for propping up the Baghdad government which they are seeking to topple.
Tehran demanded Iraq take decisive action against the protesters, with foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi condemning the attack.
“Iran has officially communicated its disgust to the Iraq ambassador in Tehran,” he said in comments carried by Iran’s state news agency IRNA.
Iran’s consulate in Iraq’s other holy city of Karbala was targeted earlier this month, and security forces defending the site shot four demonstrators dead at the time.
Sit-ins, road closures and street marches have kept public offices and schools shut across many of Iraq’s southern cities for weeks.
Protesters kept up their sit-ins in Kut, Amara and Hilla, all south of the capital, despite a notably larger security presence.
In the oil-rich port city of Basra, most government offices reopened but schools remained closed as security forces deployed in the streets.
Iraq is Opec’s second-largest crude producer and the oil exported through Basra’s offshore terminals funds more than 90% of the government’s budget.
