Tense calm in Iraq's Nasiriyah city with heavy security deployment after two protestors killed  

A tense calm holds in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah after heavy security was deployed in the wake of the killing of two protestors on Wednesday evening.

Protestors in Nasiriyah, the regional capital of Dhi Qar province, about 360 km (225 miles) south-southeast of Baghdad, on Wednesday gathered on the main streets demanding the release of an Iraqi activist and called for cancelling "false legal charges" against other protestors for their participation in demonstrations in late 2019.

According to video clips posted online, Iraqi security forces are seen cracking down on the protestors, and the sounds of heavy live bullets can be heard. According to The New Arab's Arabic sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, 23 other protestors were also wounded during the encounter.

The activist, Haidar al-Zaidi, 20, was sentenced to three years over a tweet of disputed origin deemed insulting to Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the former deputy of Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

In a bid to contain the situation, Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani Iraq's prime minister ordered a security delegation to be sent to the province "to investigate the casualties among the demonstrators."

Yahya Rasul, spokesperson of Iraq's armed forces was quoted by Iraq's state media as saying that Sudani has ordered measures against "all those who opened fire at the protestors".

Meanwhile, he asked the demonstrators to avoid further confrontations with the security forces who were "deployed for protecting the peaceful demonstrators" and he encouraged them to disclose those "infiltrators" trying to use violence.

As per orders from Sudani, the Iraqi interior ministry sacked the city's police commander and replaced him with Maki Shanae.
 
An officer from Nasiriyah police command, speaking on condition of secrecy to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, said that they have been given orders for protecting the demonstrators and the city’s security, indicating that security forces will "fiercely" treat anyone who "tries to exploit the demonstrations for their own agendas."

Nasiriyah was a bastion in a wave of anti-government protests that hit Iraq in late 2019 and were crushed by authorities in a bloody crackdown that killed more than 600 people.

The impoverished city has since seen rallies by young people demanding jobs in the public sector.

On his part, Mohammed al-Halbusi, speaker of the Iraqi parliament, during an interview with Al-Rashid Iraqi satellite channel has cautioned that the political process in Iraq would totally collapse if the pro-Iran factions in the Coordination Framework will not respect its agreements with the other political sides. 

Sudani, a Shia, had the backing of the Coalition for the Administration of the State, which is an alliance of powerful pro-Iran Shia factions, Sunni factions led by al-Halbusi, and two key Kurdish parties.