A recent article describes the causes of the protests: “Fed up of waiting for a peace dividend, Iraqis feel their country should be well on the road to recovery by now. War against Islamic State ended two years ago and the oil-rich country has seen an unprecedented level of security.But corruption and economic mismanagement have worsened conditions even further for many, leading to a new round of unrest and anger at a government that has been in power almost a year.”
Government cracks down on protests
Even though Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi has confirmed that protesters have a right to assemble, troops have come out in force quite quickly and opened fire on protesters with live ammunition resulting in hundreds being wounded.
A recent Reuters article notes: “Iraqi elite counter-terrorism service troops used live ammunition and tear gas on Wednesday to prevent protesters from breaking into Baghdad airport, police sources told Reuters. Five people were killed on Wednesday and more than 200 were wounded in renewed clashes nationwide, the largest display to date of public anger against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s year-old government. Two were killed on Tuesday.”
Protesters were also armed in some places causing the security situation to deteriorate into pitched battles. Although the protests began in Baghdad they spread south of the city and eventually most of the country.
The government places Baghdad under indefinite curfew
The violent crackdown was followed by an indefinite lasting curfew in Baghdad and some other cities. More or less all of Iraq is cut off from Internet service as described in this report: “Internet access has been cut off across much of Iraq including the capital Baghdad with connectivity falling below 70%, internet blockage observatory NetBlocks said, amid renewed anti-government protests that turned violent and spread nationwide. Earlier on Wednesday social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as messaging application WhatsApp all appeared to be have been disabled across Iraq except in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region which has a separate internet infrastructure.” Some users have been able to circumvent the cut off by using a VPN that hides the users address.
There have been sporadic protests for months. The government almost always ends up promising some reforms that are forgotten by and large once protests subside. The more the protests escalate into violence the more difficult the Mahdi government may have in staying in power just by promising a few reforms. The situation could very well escalate and create conditions which can only be solved by the resignation of the Mahdi government.
