Iraq summons four Western envoys for condemning protest attacks

Iraq’s foreign ministry on Monday summoned four Western envoys for their statements condemning a weekend attack in Baghdad that left 20 anti-government demonstrators and four police officers dead.

The ambassadors of Germany, Britain and France had met with caretaker premier Adel Abdel Mahdi on Sunday, telling him that “no armed group should be able to operate outside of the control of the state.”

The Canadian ambassador, too, had said the state should not allow “armed groups with special agendas” to roam free.

The ministry said it had summoned all four envoys for their “unacceptable intervention in Iraq’s internal affairs.”

The US embassy in Baghdad issued a demonstration alert on Monday, re-iterating its May 2019 travel advisory for US citizens to forgo travel to Iraq and to avoid areas of protests.