Shafaq News- Baghdad

Parliament Speaker Haibet al-Halbousi on Monday directed the parliamentary Security and Defense Committee to summon the security commanders responsible for handling recent events, following the forcible dispersal of a farmers' protest in central Baghdad.

Al-Halbousi said in a statement that the government must be held to its obligations toward farmers' rights and that “those responsible for any failures would face accountability.”

Dozens of farmers from provinces in central and southern Iraq had gathered Sunday in Tahrir Square, central Baghdad, to demand payment of overdue financial entitlements and compensation for previous agricultural seasons. Order maintenance forces dispersed the crowd using water cannons.

Farmers had been marching toward the Green Zone —the heavily fortified district in central Baghdad that houses government ministries and foreign missions— when security forces intervened. The General Federation of Iraqi Farmers backed the protest, describing the demands as legitimate and pursued through legal channels, and called on the government to issue a formal apology.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said he directed authorities to receive all submitted requests, and ordered an investigation into the conduct of the security forces involved in dispersing the gathering. Al-Sudani reaffirmed the government's commitment to supporting the agricultural sector.

Al-Halbousi's instruction to the Security and Defense Committee sets a 48-hour deadline for the security briefing to be delivered to parliament.

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