Shafaq News / The Ministerial Council for National Security issued, on Wednesday, the first official position on the demonstrations against the election results.

 The head of the caretaker government, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, headed a meeting of the Ministerial Council during which they discussed the security situation in the country and the measures taken to preserve the citizens and public and private properties.

According to a statement, the meeting stressed, “peaceful demonstration is a constitutional right, and it is the duty of the security forces to secure the right to express an opinion, but without blocking roads and disrupting public life, assaulting public and private property, or insulting the prestige of the state.”

 The attendees noted that "objection to the election results must be by following the legal procedures,” calling on the demonstrators to "cooperate with the security forces to carry out their tasks in maintaining security."

 The meeting focused on the Iraqi government’s commitment to “protect the United Nations mission in Iraq and other diplomatic missions operating in the country from any threat  within Iraq’s commitment to international laws,” reiterating Iraq’s firm position in its refusal to be “a starting point for attacking  any other country."