Al-Ghanmi to protect peaceful demonstrators

Shafaq News / Today, Sunday, Minister of Interior, Othman Al-Ghanmi stressed, during a security meeting at the headquarter of Baghdad Operations Command, the need to protect demonstrators and not to use weapons in dealing with them.

 The office of the Minister of Interior said, "Al-Ghanmi chaired a security conference held at the Baghdad Operations Command headquarter in the presence of the Deputy Commander of Joint Operations, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Intelligence and Federal Investigations, the commanders of Baghdad Operations and Police and a number of security formations orders."

 He added, "The conference discussed the security situation in all governorates, especially the capital, Baghdad," pointing out that the two conferences concluded that protecting the demonstrations and providing a safe environment for them by the security forces requires that these demonstrations be peaceful and far from the manifestations of attacks on public and private property or  Implementing agendas far from the strategy of demonstrations with legitimate demands. "

 "The conference stressed the need not to use or carry any weapons in dealing with the demonstrators, and to limit it to the regular and practical equipment of the specialized formations," the statement emphasized.

 According to the statement, the attendees expressed their "failure to allow public road blocking practices because it is a general right for all citizens and an essential need for employees, students, earners, patients, and other humanitarian aspects, given that informal demonstrations and blocking public traffic roads miss the opportunity for officials and parties related to the issue to respond to legitimate demands."

 The meeting stressed "the necessity to follow up the stages of preparing and training the forces concerned with dealing with the demonstrators, according to training courses that included various aspects of humanitarian dealing in accordance with human rights principles and preserving human dignity."

 Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi decided on May 9, that is, two days after granting confidence to his government, to release all detained protesters, and to form a committee to investigate the violence that accompanied the popular protests and left at least 600 people dead, most of them protesters.

 The protests began in October 2019 before being stopped in mid-March due to Corona restrictions.

 According to statistics of the High Commission for Human Rights in Iraq, the number of victims of the excessive violence that accompanied the protest demonstrations in Baghdad and nine southern governorates is more than 600 dead and about 25,000 injured, including those with serious disabilities.