Security shoot at protesters in Baghdad condemning journalist kidnapping
The fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad.
Participants said security closed al-Hurriya square in the Iraqi capital as they protested the kidnapping of journalist Afrah Shawqi, who was taken by an unknown armed group from her home in Baghdad and still missing.
One demonstrator was wounded in the head due to the shooting, said protesters.
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights said protesters had also approached the heavily-fortified Greez Zone, home of the Iraqi Cabinet and foreign embassies buildings. It held the government responsible for injuries among the protesters and urged immediate investigation into the assault, as well as to declare the whereabouts of the kidnapped journalist and the arrested demonstrators.
Shawqi, a reporter for al-Aalem al-Jadeed online newspaper, who was wrote some criticisms recently of security personnel performance, was kidnapped by an unknown armed group from her residence in Saydiya, Baghdad, her sister, Nibras, wrote on facebook, adding that the group, which arrived in a pickup truck, claimed to be affiliated with security authorities.
Her personal possessions and private car were also stolen by the group, the post said.
Her disappearance draw wide-scale criticisms by various political powers inside Iraq and prompted Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to order an investigation into the incident.