Sadr suggests halt to protests, Friday prayers as part of coronavirus prevention
2020-02-28
SULAIMANI — Shia cleric and political leader Moqtada al-Sadr on Friday (February 28) asked for a halt to the anti-government protests in Baghdad and the southern provinces and to Friday prayers in order to prevent an increase in coronavirus infections.
“Religious gatherings, such as the mass prayers on Fridays, visits and the like, may increase the health hazards (God knows best),” Sadr said in a tweet.
“Other gatherings such as demonstrations, sit-ins, stadiums, crowded markets, and the like, increase the pervasive disease that is almost classified as a pandemic,” he added.
Seven cases of the virus have been recorded in Iraq, all of whom are people who had traveled from Iran, which is experiencing a serious outbreak of the disease.
More than 500 people have been killed and 17,000 wounded since anti-government protests broke out in Baghdad and the southern provinces on October 1, as the security forces and militias cracked down on the demonstrations.
Sadr was initially supportive of the demonstrations and encouraged his supporters to camp out in the protest squares.
In recent weeks, Sadr withdrew that support as he sought to throw his weight behind Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi.
Some analysts have worried that the coronavirus outbreak will be used to accomplish what the violent crackdown could not.
(NRT Digital Media)
This story was updated at 5:07 p.m. EBL
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