Iraqi Protesters Attack Iran Consulate in Karbala

Dozens of Iraqi protesters attacked the Iranian consulate in the Shiite holy city of Karbala on Sunday, scaling the concrete barriers ringing the building, bringing down an Iranian flag and replacing it with the Iraqi flag, eyewitnesses said.

Security forces fired in the air to disperse the protesters who threw stones and burned tires around the building on a street corner in Karbala south of Baghdad.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in the incident, which comes amid ongoing protests in the capital Baghdad and majority-Shiite provinces in the south.

There have been reports of the government authorities deploying police in the area.

The protests are directed at a post-war political system and a class of elite leaders that Iraqis accuse of pillaging the country’s wealth while the country grows poorer.