In the previous month, a number of activists made a round of visits to different Iraqi cities to meet other activists and discuss the mistakes made during the uprising since it has been harshly repressed by the state.

They concluded that one of the most important reason for the current desperate situation of the uprising is its “organizational weakness” and the lack of a unified central leadership.
Therefore, they decided to establish the first central leadership aimed at organizing the protests in Iraq.

This news was welcomed by some activists, while others accused them of wanting to participate in the political process or establish a new political party and collude with the government of Mustafa Al-Kathimi. Al-Kathimi is indeed interested to use activists for his own political purposes so he is able to control the squares. Therefore, he is trying to attract activists and protest coordinators, offering money and power. In addition, he appointed some activist leaders to positions such as “advisor of prime minister“. Also, he succeeded in forming some small political movements and organizations, within which he appointed some activists.

On the other hand, the pro-Iran militias are trying to stir up chaos and sectarian problems in Iraq. Some militias have killed 20 citizens of the Sunni community in order to provoke sectarian tensions.
They also burned the Kurdish flag in order to spread a racist atmosphere. Considering that these militias have experience in dealing with weapons that facilitate their control over neighborhoods in the event of a sectarian war, it seems most likely that these events are aimed at creating chaos.

Some militias take advantage of the day of October 25 to create chaos in Baghdad. They attacked some security forces in order to provoke them to kill some peaceful protesters to start chaos in Iraq, thereby putting Al-Kathemi government in a difficult situation.
However, this does not mean that the peaceful masses that went out to the protests on October 25 and are still present now should be considered as militias.

Al-Kathemi recently asked the activists who have a relationship with militias to withdraw from Tahrir Square immediately due to the militia’s control of Tahrir Square and their acts of sabotage.

Unfortunately, today many demonstrators responded to that and withdrew from Tahrir Square in response to al-Kathemi’s request. Some of them even published statements calling for al-Kathemi to suppress Tahrir Square because of the presence of militias in it.

The events of yesterday and today have left more than 170 wounds and more than 7 martyrs. So far none of them are in any militias. We in “WAS” believe in the presence of protesters who are protesting so far in the protest squares. They have nothing to do with the militias that are also in Tahrir Square. For us, Al-Kathemi‘s government is not different in suppressing the protests than the government of Adel Abdul Mahdi.

We also believe that the entry of these militias into the square is not a justification for this brutal repression that is taking place now. There is no justification for considering everyone in Tahrir Square as affiliated with the militias.

This policy is a deliberate policy to destroy the protest movement against Al-Kathemi and against the whole failed regime in Iraq.

Tahrir Square is still in revolt against the regime even if the prime minister changes since this revolution came out for legitimate rights and basic demands such as job opportunities, electricity, education, health, and services, and it will not end unless these demands are met.

WAS 26th of October