Iraqi security forces continued to crack down on protests Friday, with security forces killing at least 10 people in Basra, where the protesters have been keeping the country’s main Gulf port closed for days.
Live gunfire and killing protesters hasn’t worked in the past, nor is
there any sign it’s going to work here. The biggest issue is likely to be Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s sermon, which is now saying the government must immediately meet demands of protesters.
The top religious leader in Iraq, Sistani has long warned against using
force against the protesters, and now says it is time to just meet the
demands of the protesters immediately. His aide Sheikh Abdul Mahdi
al-Karbalaie, added that their position is that the Iraqi government can
not “procrastinate on this issue because of the great risks facing the
country.”
Though Sistani rarely takes direct political positions, on those rare
occasions he does his word is considered law, and with a number of
Iraq’s Shi’ite factions already questioning the government’s policy,
this further solidifies that changes have to happen.
Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi had already laid out a series of reforms
during the first round of protests that would’ve satisfied many, but he
never delivered on them, which is why protests restarted. It is likely
those reforms will be revisited, though at this point even more may have
to be delivered to satisfy the tens of thousands of people in the
streets.
Sistani is clearly bipolar. Just a few days ago he was telling the protesters to cool it.
Sistani is maybe a Muslim man of peace . He is telling the government to give in to the protesters and the protesters to calm down . A very sensible solution
… Aaand the would-be Shia Crescent starts to buckle at its base.