Iraqi Protests Refuse to Die Down  

Iraq on Tuesday again erupted into chaos after mass anti-government protests resulted in the death of one demonstrator and the injuring of dozens of others at the hands of police and security forces. The large rally at Baghdad’s Tahrir Square drew thousands, who demanded that security forces be held accountable for the killings of hundreds of activists and protesters over the past year, the latest of which occurred on May 9. According to the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, since 2019 nearly 600 protesters, prominent advocates and journalists have fallen victim to either indiscriminate or targeted assassinations at the hands of Baghdad’s security agencies and Iran-backed militias operating in Iraq. The ravaged country’s October parliamentary elections are now in danger of being boycotted by a majority of Iraqis. The mass protest movement, which began in October 2019, has seen over 3,000 arrests, 30,000 wounded civilians and a reported 1,000 total deaths.