Iraqi Protests Escalate, Enter Third Week
As anti-Maliki protests in Iraq enter their third week, the demonstrations are increasing in size, and all sides are urging calm and restraint, writes Ali Abel Sadah.
Protests among Iraq’s Sunnis entered into their third week and have only increased in size. They also reached two important Sunni Mosques in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad for the first time. In response, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki tried to mobilize his supporters to take to the streets, but these attempts were in vain.
On Jan. 11 after Friday prayers, thousands in Ramadi, Mosul and Tikrit took to the streets in demonstrations titled Jum’a al-Ribaat, which roughly translates to “Binding Friday,” decrying Maliki and his policies for deliberately marginalizing Sunnis.
Abdul-Malik al-Saadi, a prominent Sunni cleric who recently became a supporter of the Sunni protest movement said, “Maliki must take heed of the lessons from Syria.”
Iraq’s Sunnis believe that the Iraqi government’s response to their demands is resemblant of Bashar al-Assad’s actions in the early days of the Syrian revolution. But senior Iraqi politicians in the ruling Shiite coalition feel that the Iraqi arena has little in common with Syria, and that the legitimate demands of the demonstrators will be realized one way or another. They did not forget to mention their concerns that regional support for the Sunnis of Iraq could escalate matters.
