What happened on Aug. 2 in Iraq was not just a paradox. On that day, forces in the government sponsored an event in Firdous Square in central Baghdad, in which pictures of Iranian leaders were raised including Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Another demonstration — demanding that the government provides services, security and a civil state — was organized by a group of young Facebook activists and held in Liberation Square. But government forces attacked the second demonstration and arrested a number of participants.

Although the distance between the two squares where the demonstrations were held is no more than 1 kilometer [0.6 miles], eyewitnesses told Al-Monitor that they saw private cars transporting demonstrators to Firdous Square — while preventing the other demonstrators from reaching Liberation Square, whose access roads were cut.

The first demonstration was for the occasion of Quds Day. It was organized by two Iraqi factions with close links to Iran and, currently, with close ties to the Dawa Party, which is part of the government.

The first faction is the Badr Organization, which is the military wing of the Supreme Islamic Council. The Badr Organization is led by Iraqi Transportation Minister Hadi al-Ameri, who split from the council in March 2012. Badr then joined the State of Law coalition — headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who leads the Islamic Dawa Party — to contest the April 20 provincial elections as a single block.