Sectarian slogans won’t be allowed in protests – BOC

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: No sectarian slogans or chanting supportive of the former regime would be allowed in the protests expected on Friday, according to the Baghdad Operations Command on Thursday. “Security forces won’t be lenient with anyone chanting sectarian slogans or others supportive of the former regime,” BOC official spokesman, Maj. General Qassem Atta, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “We reiterate warnings against terrorist schemes targeting the protesters. We have already arrested a number of terrorists belonging to Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) who confessed to having planned to attack demonstrators with explosive belts,” he added. Iraqi civil societies social networking web sites have been urging Iraqi citizens to take part in massive protests on February 25 in Baghdad and other provinces to call for better services and an end to corruption. “Security forces are on their marks to abort any terrorist attempts targeting the protesters. The demonstrators, on their part, must be cautious about any elements who might try to divert the course of peaceful protests to acts of violence,” Atta warned. Most Iraqi provinces have seen mass demonstrations and sit-in strikes calling for improving basic services, ending administrative corruption and unemployment and ameliorating the items on ration cards. AmR (TS) 1154