|
Protesters Demand Reform in Fresh Baghdad Demo
[An Nahar] Around 1,000 demonstrators gathered in central Baghdad Friday to demand an end to corruption and a government reshuffle, in the latest in a long string of weekly protests.Unlike the previous week, no violence erupted  between the massive deployment of security forces and the protesters, most of whom are supporters of holy man  Moqtada Tateral-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... "We must keep up the pressure, this is the only way of getting the intended result: ending corruption and giving Iraq back to Iraqis," said Ali Chasseb, a taxi driver who came from the southern town of Amara for the protest. Sadrist protests have twice led to breaches of the fortified Green Zone, where the country's top institutions are located. The demonstrators want Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's plan to replace the government of party-affiliated ministers with a cabinet of technocrats to be implemented. The move is being opposed however by many politicians, including within Abadi's own party, who want to preserve the patronage system that is their main source of power and wealth. Posted by: Fred 2016-06-04 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=457967 |