File photo of an Iraqi security personnel deployed near Baghdad. (File photo: AFP)
Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) deployed to the southern city of Nasiriya where protesters clashed with security forces on Saturday, broke up demonstrations by beating and arresting dozens, local police and security sources said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi earlier ordered the CTS to deploy in the streets of Baghdad and use any means to end protests against his government, two security sources told Reuters on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Iraqi lawmakers linked to populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr began an indefinite sit-in on Saturday night at parliament headquarters, two MPs told AFP, amid widespread anti-government protests.
A second wave of demonstrations demanding an end to corruption and an overhaul of the political system have rocked the capital Baghdad and the south since late Thursday.
