Thousands of Iraqis take to the streets protesting reform delay

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of seven governorates across the country on Friday to protest against the delay of the reform pack, which was announced by the government in August under popular pressure, Anadolu reported.

In Baghdad, activists, journalists and other civilians gathered in a massive protest, calling for the Shiite-led government to adopt a clear reformatory pathway that schedules its reformation agendas and prioritises the necessary reformation based on the country’s needs.

Yasser Jasem, one of the demonstrators, told Anadolu, “Our protests, which have started more than two months ago, achieved a number of goals and imposed reformations upon the government that it previously refused to implement.”

But he stressed that the large portion of the reformations have not been taken out of the government’s drawers.

About the reforms demanded by the Iraqis, Jasem said, “We called for prosecuting officials responsible for wasting country’s wealth since 2003 and those who caused the death of Iraqis due to their unbalanced plans.”

He continued, “Until now, no just prosecution had been carried out for officials involved in grafts of public funds and we have heard about arrest warrants regarding small cases,” noting that big cases related to senior political leaders have not been opened yet.

Most of the Iraqi governorates have been witnessing continuous demonstrations for months. The demonstrators have been calling for improving their livelihoods, carrying out realistic reforms and fighting administration and financial corruption in the government institutions.