After Iran mission torched
\nBaghdad and south have been torn by the worst street unrest
\nnews agency
\nBaghdad
\nIraq\u2019s southern hotspot of Nasiriyah was in bloody upheaval Thursday after a government crackdown killed 25 protesters and thousands defied a curfew to march in their funerals, following the dramatic torching of an Iranian consulate.
\nIraq\u2019s capital and south have been torn by the worst street unrest since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, as a protest movement has vented their fury at their government and its backers in neighbouring Iran.
\nLate Wednesday, protesters outraged at Tehran\u2019s political influence in Iraq burned down the Iranian consulate in the shrine city of Najaf, yelling \u201cVictory to Iraq!\u201d and \u201cIran out!\u201d
\nIn response, Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi early Thursday ordered military chiefs to deploy in several restive provinces to \u201cimpose security and restore order\u201d, the army said.
\nBut by the afternoon, after the protesters\u2019 deaths, the premier had already removed one of the commanders, General Jamil Shummary.
\nShummary had been dispatched to the premier\u2019s birthplace of Nasiriyah, a southern city that has been a protest hotspot for weeks.
\nThe ensuing crackdown was particularly bloody, with at least 25 protesters killed and more than 200 wounded as security forces cleared sit-ins with live fire, medics and security sources said.
\nThe provincial governor in Nasiriyah, Adel al-Dakhili, blamed the crackdown on Shummary, who was the military commander of the southern port city of Basra when demonstrations there were brutally suppressed in 2018.
\nDakhili demanded the premier sack him, and hours later, state television announced Abdel Mahdi had ordered Shummary removed from the post.
\nTribes deploy
\nThe latest violence brought the death toll since early October to over 370, with more than 15,000 wounded according to an AFP tally, as authorities are not releasing updated or precise figures.
\nThousands of Nasiriyah\u2019s residents took to the streets to mourn the city\u2019s dead in funeral processions, defying a curfew announced there earlier in the day.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re staying until the regime falls and our demand are met!\u201d they chanted.
\nDemonstrators who had been dispersed by security forces regrouped at Nasiriyah\u2019s police station, setting it on fire.
\nThey then encircled its main military headquarters as armed members of the area\u2019s influential tribes deployed along main highways to blockade military reinforcements trying to reach the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After Iran mission torched Baghdad and south have been torn by the worst street unrest news agency Baghdad Iraq\u2019s southern hotspot of Nasiriyah was in bloody upheaval Thursday after a government crackdown killed 25 protesters and thousands defied a curfew to march in their funerals, following the dramatic torching of an Iranian consulate. Iraq\u2019s capital […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n