Baghdad: Iraqi anti-government protesters clashed with security forces and kept up their sitins yesterday as a rights group warned a deadly crackdown could spiral into a “bloodbath”. Mass rallies calling for an overhaul of the ruling system have rocked Baghdad and the Shiite-majority south since early October, but political forces closed ranks this week to defend the government.
The consensus seems to have paved the way for a crackdown, and 12 protesters were killed on Saturday when security forces cleared out protest sites, medical sources said. Nine were killed in Baghdad, most struck in the head by tear gas canisters and three died in the southern city of Basra.
Demonstrators tried to regroup yesterday in Baghdad’s main protest camp at Tahrir Square. “Since last night, security forces have been trying to advance into Tahrir to empty it,” said a protester draped in an Iraqi flag. A medical source said around 30 people were
wounded in Khallani yesterday, while volunteer medic Azhar Qassem said doctors would stay put in Tahrir to treat any wounded.
“This is turning into nothing short of a bloodbath,” said rights group Amnesty International, calling on authorities to “immediately rein in security forces”.