Iraqi government to form investigation committee over incidents of Friday demonstration

QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi issued a decision to form a higher investigation committee to look into the events of Friday that led to casualties among protesters and security forces in Baghdad.

The committee started its investigations in order to bring the negligent people to legal accountability for disobeying orders that warned against the use of live bullets, according to a statement seen by North Press.  

On Friday, hundreds of Iranian-backed demonstrators took to the streets of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, expressing their rejection over losing seats in parliament after releasing the results of October 10 elections.

The protesters were angered by the election’s results, which saw Iranian-backed groups lost seats in the Iraqi parliament.  

To disperse the demonstration, police fired tear gas shot into the air as scores of the protesters threw stones and tried to advance towards Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign embassies, the security sources said.

During the demonstration, two individuals were killed and 125 people injured, according to Iraqi Ministry of Health.

According to the released results of parliamentary vote, a bloc led by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr won 73 seats.

Meanwhile these groups, including supporters of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) also known as Hashd al-Shaabi, lost dozens of parliament seats and described the vote as a “fraud”.

However, the Iraqi election witnessed a record low turnout, with only 41% of Iraqis having cast their ballots.