BAGHDAD, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi rejected Thursday the killing of anti-government demonstrators in Iraq's central and southern cities.
In his address to Iraqi people, Allawi said that attacks, which caused casualties in several protests sites in the past two days, are "a dangerous indication of what is happening and what can happen."
The situation is no longer acceptable, as such actions "put us in a critical situation, that we cannot continue with our mission (of forming government)," Allawi said.
Allawi warned that "the priority of the next government is to conduct serious investigations on the violations against our sons," including the demonstrators and the security forces, and to "hold everyone behind such attacks accountable."
Allawi's comment came as tensions run high in the southern provinces as anti-government protests turned violent after the followers of the prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr attacked the demonstrators in several Iraqi cities, including the holy Shiite city of Najaf, some 160 km south of the capital Baghdad.
On Wednesday, clashes between al-Sadr followers and demonstrators erupted when al-Sadr militiamen stormed al-Sadrain Square in Najaf and set fire to the sit-in tents, sparking clashes that resulted in the killing of up to eight protesters and the wounding of some 100 protesters and al-Sadr followers, according to latest police reports.
Mass anti-government demonstrations have been continuing in Baghdad and other cities in central and southern Iraq since October of 2019, demanding comprehensive reform, fight against corruption, better public services and more jobs.
