A series of demonstrations, marches, sit-ins and civil disobedience took place in Iraq from 2019 until 2021. It started on 1 October 2019, a date which was set by civil activists on social media, spreading mainly over the central and southern provinces of Iraq, to protest corruption, high unemployment, political sectarianism, inefficient public services and foreign interventionism. Protests spread quickly, coordinated over social media, to other provinces in Iraq. As the intensity of the demonstrations peaked in late October, protesters' anger focused not only on the desire for a complete overhaul of the Iraqi government but also on driving out Iranian influence, including Iranian-aligned Shia militias. The government, with the help of Iranian-backed militias responded brutally using live bullets, marksmen, hot water, hot pepper gas and tear gas against protesters, leading to many deaths and injuries.
The protesters called for the end of the muhasasa system, existing since the first post-Saddam sovereign Iraqi government in 2006, in which government positions are being parceled out to the (presumed) ethnic or sectarian communities in Iraq like Shia, Sunni and Kurds, based on their presumed size, purportedly leading to incompetent and corrupt politics. The protests, which were the largest of their kind in Iraq since the 2003 American invasion, became known within Iraq as the October Revolution (Arabic: ثورة تشرين, romanized: Thawrat Tishrīn), and gave rise to the October Protest Movement. Some called it the Tuk-Tuk Revolution, because protesters resisted in tuk-tuks.
Background
In 2011, protests broke out in various provinces within Iraq demanding the end of corruption, nepotism, and unemployment, while also calling for increased wages and improved public services such as electricity, transportation, health care, education and municipal services. Protestors faced government suppression, police brutality and arrests. These reform demands in the six Sunni-dominant provinces escalated during the 2012–2013 Iraqi protests after Nouri al-Maliki's acts of persecution against Sunni political figures. This, in turn, led to protests calling for the overthrow of the sectarian government and redrafting the constitution, as well as a march into Baghdad to occupy the Green Zone. These protests were faced with even more government suppression, leading to clashes between security forces and local tribesmen who had alleged support from Ba'ath Party loyalists. After reports of the Sunni factions, which were part of the Iraqi insurgency against the American occupation, unifying their powers and taking control over Al Anbar Governorate, the government launched the 2013 Anbar campaign. By July 2014, these factions which merged with ISIL had occupied most of Al-Anbar, Ninawa, Salah ad-Din, Kirkuk and Diyala which ignited the War in Iraq (2013–2017). The U.S. Secretary of State pledged "intense" support to the Iraqi government while imploring the Government to rise above "sectarian motivations" but according to senior officials in the Department of Defense the U.S. was refraining from giving weapons to the Iraqi military "because of lack of confidence in Iraqi troops", while veteran U.S. journalists familiar with the situation claimed that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki "is not the answer and should step down".
Fueled by the lack of progress of Haider al-Abadi's government and state corruption, the leader of the Sadrist Movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, called for a sit-in within the Green Zone in Baghdad to force the government to find serious solutions for corruption. On 30 April 2016, thousands of Al-Sadr's followers breached the barricades of the Green Zone and stormed into governmental buildings, including the Iraqi parliament, chasing representatives out of the Green Zone before retreating the day after by the call of Al-Sadr. Another demonstration broke out in Basra and nearby cities in July 2018 due to deteriorating public utilities, water contamination and lack of electricity and continued for a few months. Protestors burned down a number of government buildings and parties' headquarters, blocked numerous main streets, tore and burned pictures of Khomeini and Khamenei and even occupied the Al-Najaf and Basra International Airports. They were faced with live bullets from security forces causing the death of at least 16 protestors.
Remembering the rise of ISIS during the protests in 2012, these ones avoided sectarian rhetoric. Foreign intervention by the U.S. and Iran fuelled public anger, in a 2019 poll found that only 22% of Iraqis had a favorable opinion of the United States, 85% viewed the purpose of the 2003 invasion was to divide and plunder Iraq, while 16% had a favorable opinion of Iran.
Prelude
On 20 June in Basra demonstrators gathered outside the city's new administrative headquarters to vent their anger about poor basic services and unemployment. The old headquarters were burnt down during 2018's months-long protest. Basra and the surrounding region produce about 90 percent of the country's oil wealth but most of its residents have not benefited from it. Protesters blamed Basra's authorities for the city's problems, from a lack of job opportunities to unreliable and poor public utilities. Riot police were deployed at the scene but the protest remained peaceful.
Holders of higher degrees demonstrations
On 25 September 2019, a group of holders of higher degrees organized a protest in front of the Prime Minister's office in Baghdad, demanding their employment. The protest was faced with major suppression from security forces as armoured vehicles separated the demonstrators using hot water and police forces conducted random arrests among them which led to cases of fainting and injuries among the demonstrators. This incident was faced with country-wide anger because of the forceful methods that were used by the government towards intellectual demonstrators, along with the violence that was used against female protestors. Reactions included the Ministry of Interior forming a committee to investigate the incident and demonstrators organizing solidarity protests in many provinces to condemn these methods. The holders of higher degrees resumed their protests for three days after the incident, spreading over many southern provinces.
Dismissal of Abdel-Wahab Al-Saedi
On 27 September 2019, Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi issued a decision to transfer Abdel-Wahab Al-Saedi, a Lieutenant General at the time, from ICTS to the Ministry of Defence. Al-Saedi said the decision was an insult to his military rank and that he would rather go to jail than execute this decision. This decision caused political figures, including former prime minister Haider al-Abadi and many representatives, to criticize Abdul-Mahdi and call for him to back down from his decisions. According to VOA News, Al Saedi's transfer was influenced individually by pro-Iran factions within the Al-Shaabi paramilitary force, said a government official in Iraq who asked to be kept unknown. After the decision was made, social media was flooded with Al-Saedi's photos and achievements, calling for Abdul-Mahdi to back down from this injustice and accusing Iran of ordering the Iraqi government to replace every "national hero" in the army with Iranian loyalists. In response to this backlash, Abdul-Mahdi said he stands by his decision and that it is a normal routine decision with no political motivations. Furthermore, after calls for the unveiling of a statue of Al-Saedi in Mosul that was made to immortalize the commander's efforts in the city's liberation, security forces surrounded the statue, prohibiting its unveiling, before it was finally removed by them. On 30 September 2019, Al-Saedi announced that he executed Abdul-Mahdi's orders and joined the ministry of defence as "a loyal soldier to serve my country and my beloved people."
Causes, goals and methods
Starting on 25 October 2019, mass protests took place in many cities in Iraq, against corruption and a national government that protestors saw as unaccountable for its actions. After the U.S. occupation (2003–11), oligarchs and warlords were perceived to have taken control over Iraq. While the country produces more oil than the United Arab Emirates, the oil revenues were seen by protestors as failing to be spent on maintenance of hospitals and roads. A widely used slogan in this phase of the protests was: "We want a homeland"—reflecting a longing both for a sense of unity and for a self-determined life in dignity.
While at daytime protesters from all strata of Iraqi society peacefully took to the streets and squares of cities like Kerbala, later at night, youths from the suburbs sought violent confrontations, using molotov cocktails and burning car-tires, which was answered by the state security forces with tear gas, rubber bullets, deadly snipers and even patrol vehicles lethally ramming into crowds.
Assassination and intimidation campaign
Hassan Wahab of the Amal Association human rights group said, "Those [protestors] detained and released are only released on bail. Charges are not dropped so they face re-arrest and trial."
As of 23 December 2019, there were 29 assassinated activists related to the protests, most of them were in Baghdad. On 10 January 2020, an Iraqi journalist, Ahmad Abdelsamad, of Dijlah TV and his cameraman, Safaa Ghali, were shot in their car by unidentified gunmen.
On 21 January, the police stated that Janat Madhi, a 49-year old activist was gunned down by unknown gunmen as she came back home from protests in the southern city of Basra, according to the Urdu Point.
On 14 August, an activist, Tahseen Osama Al-Shahmani, was shot 20 times at his internet service company in Basra. On 19 August, a female activist, Reham Yacoub, was killed and three others were wounded in the city of Basra, when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their car.
Attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad
The US Embassy in Baghdad was attacked on the last day of 2019. The attack was organized and directed by Iran's proxy leaders Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Qais al-Khazali, Hadi al-Amari, and Falih Al-Fayyadh. They are seen in the pictures taken on the scene.
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, one of the leaders of the attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad, was condemned and spent years in jail in Kuwait for directing the December 1983 attacks on the US and French embassies there.
For a long time, Iraqi anti-government protestors tried to enter Green Zone and were brutally suppressed and held back. On 31 December, groups of Popular Mobilization Forces (al-Hashd al-Sha'abi) entered the Green Zone and went directly toward the American Embassy without being blocked by security forces.
US President Donald Trump accused Iran of "orchestrating" the attack on the embassy and added that they would be held "fully responsible". In the aftermath, the commander of Iran's Quds Force, Major General Qasem Soleimani, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were tracked down and assassinated in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport. On 5 January in reaction to these airstrikes the Iraqi parliament called for the expulsion of US troops from the country.
Timeline 2019
October
1 October: Protests erupted in Baghdad in Liberation Square over high unemployment, poor basic services, and state corruption. These protests spread to the southern provinces. The authorities imposed an internet blackout and shut down 75% of the country's internet access. Protesters demanded the resignation of Adil Abdul-Mahdi and prepare for early elections. The protesters also began demonstrating against Iranian influence, and against the leader of Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani. At the beginning of the protests, the demonstrators were mostly young male, holding the government responsible for its many failures, according to Vox. The Iraqi prime minister declared a curfew until further notice.
3 October: According to Amnesty International, 18 civilians and one police officer were killed and hundreds were injured after three days of protesting.
4 October: In Nasiriyah, many headquarters of political parties were burned down.
5 October: Unknown forces raided many TV channels such as Al Arabiya, Dijlah TV, NRT and Al Rasheed TV for airing the protests. The forces destroyed these channels' properties.
7 October: Dozens of protesters were killed and hundreds were injured in Sadr City.
8 October: Protests largely ceased due to Arba'een, a Shia religious holiday which occurred on 19 October. According to Arab News, regardless of warnings from the Iranian authorities for the pilgrims to procrastinate going on the pilgrimage to Iraq, 3.5 million Shiites, mainly Iranians entered Iraq through land borders on Friday.
24 October: Thousands of protesters began to congregate at Liberation Square in Baghdad, protesting against the government and against the Iranian influence. Nearly 50 protesters were killed and injured after attempting to enter the Green Zone.