Deadly Protests in Iraq Leave Indigenous Christians Between Hope and Fear

Zenit News Agency ^ | 12/19/19 | Aid to the Church in Need

[marshmallow]

Although Iraqi Christians, concentrated in the north of the country, lie far from the epicenter of deadly protests in Baghdad, their fate may be tied to the outcome of what demonstrators are calling a “revolution” in Iraq.

While protestors in Baghdad have emphasized interfaith unity, protests have in fact been concentrated in Iraq’s nine Shiite provinces, with limited involvement from the Sunni Muslim and minority-dominated north.

Most Christians live close to Mosul, Iraq’s largest Sunni Arab city, where the streets have been quiet. Mosul residents told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that after three years of war, people are tired of violence and “do not want war anymore”. Protesting, they also said, might lead to accusations that they are ISIS sympathizers trying to bring down the Iran-backed regime – leading to an even more violent reaction from the militias and security services who control the city.

Christians, meanwhile, largely live in towns where, because of the fraught security situation, protesting is banned by security forces and the Nineveh Provincial Council. At most, some churches have held services calling for peace. At Sts Behnam and Sarah Church in Baghdeda, the largest Christian city in Iraq, Catholics gathered to pray for peace in their country, with altar servers carrying Iraqi flags for the occasion.

Many of the issues highlighted by protestors in Baghdad are the same ones faced by young Christians: unemployment, corruption, and a government motivated by Iranian interests. In the Nineveh Plains, many Christians live under the control of Iranian-backed militias, who have been accused of extorting the local population, interfering with the economy, and intimidating minorities.

These factors explain why some Christians, mostly young, in the Nineveh Plains, have expressed solidarity with the protestors, some of them apologizing on social media for not being able to come out.....

[cloudmountain]

I would hope that Christians would eventually start trying to emigrate...that is, get outta Dodge.
I do not believe that Iraq will ever be a friendly place for ANYONE, let alone Christians.