Iraq braces for largescale protests - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Iraq braces for largescale protests - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Thousands of Iraqis are expected to take part in rallies organised mainly through social networking site Facebook, after weeks of scattered protests around the country calling for an end to corruption, shortages of jobs, food, power and water.

"February 25 is the Iraqi day of rage for change, an end to corruption and sectarianism in Iraq," said one post on the wall of Facebook group 'Baghdad Facebook' on Thursday, which had over 3,000 supporters.

A member of another Facebook group with more than 3,000 supporters named 'A street without a hole in Baghdad' called on people to take part in peaceful protests to improve services.

It is however, impossible to verify how many members of such groups live in Iraq.

Baghdad, Basra, Kirkuk, Sulaimaniya and other cities and towns have been hit by protests in recent weeks, some leading to clashes between protesters and security forces. Several people have been killed and scores wounded.

Popular uprisings mobilised by youths using social media, which unseated Tunisia and Egypt's long-ruling leaders, have motivated young Iraqis.

"Let the voice of freedom be heard in all of Baghdad's streets and let's take a lesson from Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
Long live Iraq," wrote one supporter of Facebook group 'February revolution against corruption'.

Other groups encouraged Iraqis living abroad to support the demonstration by protesting outside Iraqi embassies.

Al-Maliki warning

Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister responded by advising Iraqis to stay away from the nationwide "day of rage" protests, warning of possible violence by al-Qaeda and members of Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party.

Al-Maliki, whose government has been in place for only two months in his second term, affirmed the right of Iraqis to protest peacefully but said he had evidence that insurgents and Baathists planned to take advantage of the demonstrations for their own purposes.

However, he gave no proof for his assertion made in a nationally televised speech on Thursday.

"I call on you...not to take part in tomorrow's protest because they are suspicious," al-Maliki said.

"I call on you to be cautious and careful and stay away from this (event)."

He said that he did not want to deprive Iraqis of their right to protest legitimate demands, but wanted it to happen with someone other than "Saddamists, terrorists and al-Qaida'' standing behind the march.

"Frankly speaking, they are planning to take advantage of tomorrow's demonstration for their own benefit,'' he said.

Iraqis planning to take part in the protest march scoffed at the warning.

"Although there are security and religious pressures on us to not participate in the demonstrations tomorrow, we will,'' Omar al-Mashhadani, an activist with the al-Nahrian relief organisation, said.

"Our aim is not to topple the regime but to make reforms and fight corruption."

Unlike recent uprisings across the Arab world, Iraqi protesters have not called for the ouster of al-Maliki's
Shia-led coalition government, instead they have demanded an end to corruption, replacement of local officials and an end to shortages of food, electricity, and other basic amenities in a country still trying to get back on its feet eight years after the US-led invasion.