Security forces block farmers from Green Zone, injuring protesters

BAGHDAD — Security forces used water cannons Sunday to prevent hundreds of farmers from crossing Al-Jumhuriya Bridge toward the Green Zone, injuring a number of protesters during clashes, as tensions over delayed payments and wheat pricing boiled over.

Farmers from Najaf, Diwaniyah, Samawah, Karbala and Babil gathered in Tahrir Square before attempting to cross the bridge in protest over what they described as unmet government promises to pay their dues and revise wheat procurement prices.

Following the incident, outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani directed authorities to receive all farmers’ demands and ordered an investigation into the conduct of security forces. He stressed “the importance of the pivotal role represented by farmers within the national economic development cycle” and described farmers as “the group most committed to maintaining communication and lawful, disciplined interaction with members of the security forces.”

The protest follows a parliamentary decision calling on the federal government and Ministry of Finance to pay farmers their dues for last season’s wheat crop and revise pricing policies. Lawmaker Ibtisam al-Hilali said such decisions were “harmful to the Iraqi people” and aimed at “maximizing revenues at the expense of the citizen.”

Iraq’s wheat sector depends on a state procurement system in which the government buys crops at fixed prices to support domestic supply and farmer incomes. While the system has helped achieve self-sufficiency in recent years, delays in payments and pricing disputes have led to recurring tensions.