Now that the internet is back in Iraq after about a week, shattering social media recordings are circulating:
- Militia officers armed with truncheons comb out neighborhoods, invade stores and houses, beat up the men.
- A young man in jeans and a shirtless angrily approaches a militiaman; He is still about two meters from the fighter, as this murdered him with a headshot.
- Another video shows a young Iraqi speaking live from a demonstration in his cell phone camera before a head shot hits him.
- Iraqi journalists report on snipers shooting unarmed demonstrators.
Such terror on the streets of Baghdad or Basra is not common in Iraq either. More than 100 people have been shot dead by the security forces in Baghdad and southern Iraq, according to Iraqi military officials since the October 1 protests erupted. More than 6000 people were injured.
"Exaggerated violence beyond the rules of engagement"
Iraqi President Barham Salih spoke in a televised speech of "unacceptable" attacks. The Iraqi military wrote in a statement of "excessive force beyond the rules of engagement" that they wanted to hold the commanding officers who had carried out these "wrong actions" to account.
Hadi Mizban / AP / DPA
Government opponents have built a barricade in Baghdad
"It is now being investigated who is behind this violence, because the Secretary of Defense and the Minister of the Interior do not know," says Renad Mansour, Iraq expert of the think tank Chatam House in London. "Many say they are criminal elements, but it is important to note that they are gunmen who make head shots or chest shots with great precision - they are well-trained armed groups that are not under their control of the state. "
It sounds unbelievable that even the defense minister, in charge of the military, or the minister of the interior, in charge of the police, could not know who is behind the brutal repression. In fact, the state structures in Iraq are weak; Paramilitary groups are often stronger.
Militias rely on brutality and intimidation
Since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the dissolution of the Iraqi army, it has not really succeeded in restoring the state. "In part, this is also because international actors prefer to work with non-governmental groups," says Iraq expert Mansour.
He refers to Iran's support for Iraqi-Shiite militias, as well as German aid to the Iraqi-Kurdish Peshmerga in northern Iraq. "All these armed groups are not subject to the state but to a political party, they are above the state and above the law," says Mansour. The militias are currently relying on brutality and intimidation against the demonstrators to defend the existing system.
Although the protests have not stopped yet, some young Iraqis from Baghdad on the phone are telling them that they are now afraid. Almost everyone seems to know someone who has been arrested - often not on the street, but in their own homes.
Hadi Mizban / AP / DPA
An injured man in Baghdad - the forces are brutal
The protests have so far no recognizable leaders. They originated from a shared sense of anger. Many young Iraqis are tired of living in a country where much does not work - no reliable power and water supplies, no jobs, no prospects, instead corruption, mismanagement and the eerie power of the militias.
Iraq is a very young country, with two thirds of the 40 million or so Iraqis under 30 years old. Every year, hundreds of thousands of university graduates are entering the job market, but there are hardly any jobs for them.
Some of the young university graduates now hang on billboards in Baghdad; next to their names is what they studied. These are the portraits of killed protesters.