UN says ‘this must stop’ after violence in Iraq protests
The top UN official in Iraq deplored five days
of violence during protests that has killed nearly 100 across the country and
wounded thousands, saying “this must stop.”
“Five days of reported deaths and injuries;
this must stop,” Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the special representative of the
UN secretary general in Iraq, said in a tweet.
According to the Iraqi parliament’s human
rights commission, 99 people have been killed and nearly 4,000 wounded since
protests against unemployment and living conditions erupted Tuesday in Baghdad
before spreading to the south of the country.
The UN official said she was “deeply saddened
by the loss of life.”
“I call on all parties to pause and reflect.
Those responsible for violence should be held to account. Let the spirit of
unity prevail across Iraq,” she said.
The protests over chronic unemployment and
poor public services that began Tuesday have escalated into a broader movement
demanding an end to official corruption and a change of government.
Iraqi officials say at least five more
protesters have been shot and killed in anti-government demonstrations that
have raged in four neighborhoods in the capital Baghdad on Saturday, bringing
the day’s death toll to 19.
