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Iraqi Protesters Burn Down Iranian Consulate in Najaf

(New York Times) Alissa J. Rubin - Iraqi protesters in the southern city of Najaf burned down the Iranian Consulate there on Wednesday night in an outburst of anger at Iran. Video showed sizable crowds outside the consulate shouting "Out, out Iran!" as the building burned. The attack "sends a clear message that a segment of the Iraqi society rejects the Iranian political presence in the country and holds it accountable for bringing this government," said Sheikh Fadhil al-Budayri, a senior cleric in Najaf. The demonstrators in Najaf are almost all Shiites, and Shiite religious authorities there have encouraged the protests. Iran has deep ties to Najaf. Millions of Iranian pilgrims worship at its Shiite shrines, and Iran has invested heavily in projects to refurbish and renovate the religious sites. Iran has also begun to send more of its own clerics to Najaf, pushing its branch of Shiism in which the chief religious leader is also the supreme political leader. Iraq has rejected that form of theocracy and has increasingly chafed against Iran's interference in Iraq's political life.
2019-11-28 00:00:00
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