16 protesters killed, injured, 33 others arrested in demonstrations at Iraq’s Muthanna
Iraq suffers from acute financial crisis due to dropped oil prices and anti-terrorism expenses.
Protests in Muthanna left a protester killed, as protesters stormed headquarters of the National Wisdom Movement. Fifteen protesters were injured as they attempted entering the provincial council building.
The protests, according to the report, saw burning of headquarters of Virtue and Daawa parties and Badr Organization, in addition to TV station of Badr al-Samawa.
Thirty-three protesters were arrested.
Mass demonstrations against unemployment, widespread corruption and poor services have been sweeping through southern Iraq, particularly in the provinces of Maysan, Karbala, Najaf, Babil, Wassit, Diwaniya and Dhi Qar, for seven days in row, prompting the outgoing Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to rush from a NATO summit in Brussels to Basra to meet with local officials and tribal leaders in a bid to restore calm.
In a bid to quell the unrest, Abadi ordered security forces to be on high alert and imposed curfew in several southern provinces.
On Saturday, two protesters were reportedly killed in Najaf on Saturday as members of the Shiite militia of Asaeb Ahl al-Haq were shot at the demonstrations.
Issues with internet services were reported across the protests-hit regions.