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Areas blocked by anti-govt protesters in Iraq reopened
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SME Times News Bureau | 25 Jan, 2020
Iraqi security forces on Saturday reopened bridges, squares and roads
across the country, which were blocked during the past few months by
anti-government protests over lack of jobs and basic service.
A
statement by the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) said that the security
forces reopened al-Ahrar Bridge and the squares of Tayran and Cordoba
and nearby highway named Mohammed al-Qassim, reports Xinhua news agency.
The
BOC also said that the security forces and Baghdad municipality started
to clean the scenes and lift concrete barricades in al-Khalani Square
near al-Tahrir Square, and the security forces are preparing to reopen
al-Sinak Bridge in downtown Baghdad.
A lesser number of
protesters are still holed up in al-Tahrir Square, the epicentre of
Iraq's anti-government protests since last October.
In southern
Iraq, the security forces reopened many squares and bridges in the
provinces of Diwaniyah and Dhi Qar, while in Basra the security forces
burned some tents of the protesters as they reopened their protest
areas, according to local media reports.
The advance of the
security forces came hours after the supporters of the prominent Shia
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr began withdrawing from the demonstrations centres
in the Iraqi cities, shortly after a tweet by al-Sadr, who accused some
of the protester of being supported from outside Iraq.
"However,
from now I will try not to interfere with them, neither negatively or
positively, until they take into account the fate of Iraq," al-Sadr said
in his tweet.
Al-Sadr's accusation came after some protesters
refused to participate in his massive demonstration on Friday, in which
he called for a scheduled withdrawal of US troops from Iraq through
using all peaceful means.
The demonstration came after the Iraqi
parliament passed a resolution requiring the government to end the
presence of foreign forces in Iraq on January 5, two days after a US
drone strike on a convoy at Baghdad airport which killed Qasem
Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution
Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq's
paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.
Mass anti-government
demonstrations have been launched in Baghdad and other cities in central
and southern Iraq, demanding comprehensive reform, fight against
corruption, better public services and more job opportunities.
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