Unemployed Riot In Baghdad

Unemployed Riot in Baghdad

A demonstration organized by the Union of Unemployed Workers in Baghdad, which is backed by the Iraqi Communist Party, turned violent on Wednesday. The demonstrators maintain that they were peaceful, and that the reconstituted Iraqi police fired on them for no good reason. The police wounded three. The demonstration then turned into a fullscale riot, and a police car was set on fire. Unemployment is estimated at 60% in Iraq, and many families are worried about where their next meal will come from. The demonstrators were apparently mostly seeking jobs as security guards, and some say they had bribed the police to get them a spot on the force, but nothing had happened. There was also a riot in Mosul by the unemployed there. Police fired warning shots over the heads of the demonstrators.