Iraq’s fragile democracy may be facing its most dangerous moment yet
THE UN CALLS the violence “senseless”. Human-rights groups condemn it as wanton. More than 100 Iraqis have been killed and 4,000 wounded since protests flared on October 1st in Baghdad and across southern Iraq. To restore order the government has tried shutting down the internet, imposing curfews and firing on demonstrators. Lately it has promised new jobs. Officials admit that they are running out of options. “There’s no magic solution,” says Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the 77-year-old prime minister.
The timing of the protests seems to have caught the government off-guard. Normally they take place in the summer, when water and electricity are scarce. But the rains this year have been good and electricity production is at a post-war high. The government’s coffers are fairly flush thanks to record oil production. Still, it has been unable to deal with high poverty rates, and with youth unemployment that stands around 25%.
In 2016 the security forces looked on helplessly. This time, though, the response was fierce and fast. On the first day of unrest the interior ministry ordered armoured cars onto the streets. By the second day a curfew was declared. But the chain of command appears to be fraying. The most militant and pro-Iranian Shia militias have taken a lead role in confronting the protesters, say observers. Masked men have smashed the offices of anti-Iranian satellite-TV stations that aired protest footage.
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