With protests erupting across the region, one of the first protests in Iraq, in the impoverished southern city of Diwaniyah, ended in violence when Iraqi police opened fire on the crowd, wounded at least three.
Roughly 1,000 people were said to have gathered in the provincial capital, demanding increases to their food rations and improvements in the state’s crumbling power and water infrastructure.
Lack of basic services, particularly electricity, is a long-standing complaint across Iraq since the US occupation began in 2003, and there appears to be growing frustration with the Maliki government’s inabiliy to improve the provision of such services.
Police said they opened fire after members of the protest threw stones at them. This drew an angry rebuke from the Diwaniyah governor’s office, which insisted “there was no reason to open fire. It doesn’t matter if they tried to raid the place or threw stones.”
I have never liked the choice of words in US news reports when it involves Arab countries; they are always either false or misleading. a good example above is "since the US occupation began in 2003" in Iraq. Frankley occupation is not much of a problem but this phrase should have read "death and destruction in Iraq that began in 1991" as the American outlaws & gangsters have slaughtered over 2.65 million Iraq. A day will come when the Americans will pay for all the war crimes they have committed against humanity. Americans are violent people with an insatiable lust for blood.
300 million Arabs and over 1.5 billion Muslims are fed up with Americans.
1-Although the regime of Saddam Hussein was not an democratic.., far from it.., yet it did hade its own elements of progress and anti US militarism and EUs double standards toward Arab Nations.., this US and EU foreign politics been practiced all over the world for last 60 years and now people are fed up with it.., US president or let say Paul Wolfowitz (the father of all Zionism) idea with help from Israel was based on the US militarism regime to occupy the entire region.., after 2003 Iraq invasion part of that idea become a reality and made possible by George W. bush., Iran in the other hand also a regime of a militarism and a non democratic system yet with a different name, which now is a major social economic and political player in the region and Iraq almost under its control.., so anyone who would ask or people would demonstrate against Iran influence or the present Iraqi government then they would face the bullets of a developing militarism regime.
2-In the other hand as long as Iraq is poor and not capable in any form attacking Israel or helping the Palestinians cause then it’s a country of a buffer zone protecting Israel from Iranians.., US roll here is not much when it comes to people uprising in Egypt and elsewhere, simply US cannot continue fighting their way out of a mess made possible by Paul Wolfowitz and his gang of Mafioso, George W. Bush included; however, US can and will force part of its will when it comes to Egypt or Iraq military simply by not supplying hardware’s or demanding for the right generals to be in charged.., this is a need by the US regime, this military help or what is called “aid” is a trap been working for US and EU´s interests in the region for last 60 years where people get nothing out of it. So in the long run the US militarism regime and EU`s ignorant politics continues its influence with prospects in defeat and in time no matter how you look at it. So the best policy for US and EU is to get their bouts out and help democracy to flourish, in another word listen to people and first of all to your own people.