Hundreds of supporters of pro-Iran groups clashed with security forces in Iraq’s capital Friday, expressing their fury over last month’s election result, AFP journalists and a security source said.
Demonstrators from groups loyal to the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network threw projectiles and “blocked… access to the (high-security) Green Zone” on three sides, before they were pushed back by police who fired in the air, a security source said, requesting anonymity.
The Hashed’s political arm saw its share of parliamentary seats decline substantially in October’s election, which the group’s supporters have denounced as “fraud.”