Agencies-Gaza post
United Nations calls on Iraqi parties to calm down after 20 killed
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the Iraqi parties to “restrain” and “take immediate steps to calm the situation” after at least 20 people were killed and dozens wounded in protests in the Green Zone in Baghdad, following the religious authority Muqtada al-Sadr’s announcement of his retirement from politics.
According to (Sky News), Guterres’ spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement that the Secretary-General “is following with concern the demonstrations in Iraq today, during which the demonstrators entered government buildings.”
He added that the Secretary-General “calls for calm and restraint, and urges all relevant actors to take immediate steps to calm the situation and avoid violence.”
The statement reported Guterres as calling “all parties and actors to overcome their differences and engage, without delay, in a peaceful and inclusive dialogue.”
Twenty people were killed and dozens of others were injured in the Green Zone in central Baghdad, where a state of chaos prevailed after Al-Sadr announced his retirement from politics, which sparked anger among his supporters who stormed the government palace while the army imposed a general curfew.
