Iraqis defy crackdown as 2-day toll hits 69

Thousands of Iraqi protesters stood fast in Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square on Sunday, defying a bloody crackdown that killed scores over the weekend and an overnight raid by security forces seeking to disperse them.

Young men had erected barricades on a bridge leading to the capital’s fortified Green Zone against security forces who continued to lob tear gas canisters towards them. Medical and security sources said 42 people had been injured.

“We give you our life and blood, Iraq,” they chanted.

At least 69 Iraqis were killed on Friday and Saturday and hundreds wounded as demonstrators clashed with security forces and militia groups in a second wave of this month’s protests against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government. About 226 people have been killed in October.

Protesters were locked in a cycle on Sunday of advancing deeper into Tahrir Square and towards the Green Zone which houses government buildings, then retreating when the barrage of tear gas canisters became too much.

The smell of the gas was potent in all corners of the square as security forces fired it indiscriminately and directly at protesters, not into the air.

Many used creative ways to defend themselves including one protester who used a satellite dish as a shield. Tuk-tuks swarmed around, carrying injured young men to ambulances.

On Sunday morning, students could be seen joining demonstrations in the capital, with activists saying about a dozen schools and universities had decided to shut their doors and take part in protests en masse.

In the emblematic Tahrir Square, young girls in school uniforms with rucksacks were seen trekking through streets littered with tear gas canisters.

Hundreds of protesters had hunkered down in the square, defying heavy tear gas use overnight and pledging to “weed out” the political class.

Young men cleaning up the square said they feared a repeat of Saturday night’s crackdown by security forces, when the demonstrations in Tahrir Square were broken up with tear gas and stun grenades. Some protesters have regrouped.

Iraq’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service said on Sunday it had deployed in the streets of Baghdad to protect important state buildings “from undisciplined elements.”

Two security sources had told Reuters on Saturday that the Service’s forces in Baghdad had been told to “use all necessary measures” to end the protests against Abdul Mahdi’s government.

Agencies