Officials imposed a curfew in the Iraqi capital, which has now been lifted.
Advertisement
Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr condemned the use of force, and voiced support for the demonstrators’ “peaceful [and] spontaneous revolt”.
Earlier in the day, a thousands of people, mostly young men, gathered outside the Green Zone walls. Sadr City, a stronghold for Sadr’s supporters, was struck by a second large market bombing by Islamic State in the space of a week on Wednesday, with many directing blame at the government for failing to protect them.
Parliament has not convened since then, crippling government as it grapples with an economic crisis brought on by low oil prices and an Islamist insurgency that constitutes the biggest security threat to the Opec oil producer since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
In a statement published on the presidency website, Mr Masum said violent rallies would distract security forces from preventing terror attacks. They posted pictures of themselves inside the prime minister’s office on social media sites.
It was unclear, however, if security forces were aiming live ammunition directly at the crowd.
The demonstrators started in the evening their withdrawal from the Green Zone, which houses the government offices and some foreign embassies, after they broke into the restricted district for more than two hours in the afternoon, a police source told Xinhua.
Protesters hurled tear gas canisters back at security forces during the clashes.
Security forces also fired live rounds but it was not immediately clear how many people were wounded and what the nature of their injuries was. “Curse the government that kills its children in cold blood”.
Ambulances became caught in the mass of people packing the street, which was divided by coils of barbed wire running down the median that also impeded movement.
Security forces responded with gunfire and tear gas.
Advertisement
Sadr supporters had encountered relatively little resistance when they pulled down slabs of concrete blast walls to break into the Green Zone last month. A curfew was slapped on Baghdad after the Green Zone breach. In a televised speech late on Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of the operation, promising the nation that the “Iraqi flag will rise” again in Fallujah.
