Iraqi PM says protests allowed but violence not tolerated
Tehran (KNA) - Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi has reaffirmed people's right to protest but warned against violence as thousands of people across the country prepare to partake in massive anti-government demonstrations planned for Friday.
Addressing the nation on Thursday night, Abdul-Mahdi said people had the right to call for the government to resign.
However, a collapse of the government, as some protesters have suggested, won't help improve the situation in the Arab country.
"The resignation of the government today without a constitutional alternative will lead the country into chaos," he said.
The remarks came as hundreds of people gathered in Baghdad's iconic Tahrir (Liberation) Square holding Iraqi flag as they called for the country's entrenched political class to be "uprooted."
Some of the protesters headed towards the high-security Green Zone, which hosts government offices and foreign diplomatic mission. They were pushed back by security forces using water cannons.
Similar rallies were also held in the southern cities of Diwaniyah and Nasiriyah, where the protesters said they won't go back home "until the regime falls."
Abdul-Mahdi tried to address the protesters' demands by repeating a set of reforms he pledged earlier this month, when the first wave of the protests rocked the country.
Source: PressTV