SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said on Saturday the federal government would not tolerate security forces who disregard orders, after a protester was killed in Basra.
Iraqi security forces killed at least one protester using live gunfire and wounded at least 40 others in the southern city of Basra on Friday, security sources and a rights official told Reuters.
It was the first killing of a protester by security forces in Basra since Kadhimi took office in May.
“The state will not tolerate any security personnel who disregard orders which explicitly forbid the use of bullets against demonstrators, as happened in Basra,” Kadhimi said in a tweet.
“Also, the security services are serious about not allowing offenders to tarnish their image,” he added.
Kadhimi further said the alleged killer of protester Omar Fadhil had been detained and that he would receive a fair trial.
“We trust the Iraqi people, the Iraqi Security Forces, and our heroic Army, and together we will overcome these types of challenges.”
The Basra security sources and rights official told Reuters that several dozen protesters had taken to the streets in Basra on Friday demanding jobs and basic services.
They were angry that Kadhimi had generally failed to deliver on both and that protest camps had been cleared by security force in Basra and Baghdad, the rights official said.
Iraq’s interior ministry confirmed the death but said in a statement that no Iraqi security forces were being allowed to use weapons against demonstrators and that it was investigating the incident.
Deadly flare-ups have been rare since protests against Iraq’s ruling elite and demanding jobs and services largely subsided earlier this year.
