Iraqis demand better security for religious pilgrimages
After vandals attacked Sunni properties in Adhamiya, Iraqis are calling for official regulation and organization of religious events to avoid sectarian violence.
BAGHDAD — On May 15, the Shiite Endowment issued a statement that in one week, around 12 million Shiite visitors flew to Baghdad’s Kadhimiya district to commemorate the death of Imam Musa al-Kadhim, who died in the year 799.
On the night of May 14, rioters set fire to the property of the Sunni Endowment and other residences in the Adhamiya Sunni neighborhood, which faces the Shiite city of Kadhimiya. Media reports showed video footage of groups of Shiites attacking the property of the Sunni Endowment and the houses of Sunni residents. A young man waved victoriously in front of the burned buildings, celebrating revenge on Sunnis.
In an article published May 15, Al-Mada Executive Editor-in-Chief Adnan Hussein called this young man a fool, writing, “The perpetrators of this act are mentally prepared at home, school and mosques to carry out such acts through political and media discourse and sectarian propaganda and are driven by radicalism and fanaticism.”
Violence during religious events has prompted dialogue about sensitive religious issues once considered taboo, and calls for reducing the number of visitors to holy Shiite places. The May 14 incidents, however, are the first of their kind.
