Anti-government demonstrations have left 250 dead

Iraq’s top cleric warned foreign actors on Friday against interfering in his country’s anti-government protests as they entered a second month despite pledges of reform and violence that has left over 250 dead.

The demonstrations have evolved since October 1 from rage over corruption and unemployment to demands for a total government overhaul— shunning both politicians and religious figures along the way.

They have even condemned the influence of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary factions, who have descended into the streets of the capital and elsewhere to flex their muscles.

In his weekly sermon, top Shia religious authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said Iraq must not be dragged “into the “abyss of infighting”. “No person or group, no side with a particular view, no regional or international actor may seize the will of the Iraqi people and impose its will on them,” he said. Ayatollah Sistani’s remarks, which can usually make or break a government decision in Iraq, came a day after comments by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“I seize this opportunity to tell those who care about Iraq and Lebanon to remedy insecurity as their priority,” Khamenei said, without elaborating.

Iraq has close but complicated ties with both Iran, its large eastern neighbour, and the United States, which opposes Tehran's influence in the region.

On November 1, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the Iraqi government to “listen to the legitimate demands made by the Iraqi people,” saying an official probe undertaken last month into suppression of the protests “lacked sufficient credibility”.

More than 250 people have died and 10,000 have been wounded in the past month as protests evolved into calls for the “downfall of the regime”. The movement is unique in Iraqi history because of its condemnation of the political and religious class wholesale.