The night of violence pushed the death toll after a week of unrest to 110 people. They were mostly protesters demanding the removal of the Iraqi government and overhaul of its political class, as security forces carried out a heavy-handed crackdown on demonstrators. "Our security forces, in its various forms, must defend and support the people," Salih said in televised remarks. "They must firmly confront those who violated the constitution by attacking citizens and the security forces, and terrorising the media." Iraqi authorities said they would hold to account members of the security forces who "acted wrongly" in the crackdown on protests, state TV reported.

Source: Otago Daily Times October 07, 2019 21:33 UTC