Angry relatives of Iraqi military cadets who are believed to have been massacred by Islamic State militants earlier this year gathered outside Baghdad’s parliament on September 16 to demand accountability and compensation.
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Iraq reports that Iraqi security officials erected special fences to cordon off the crowd. As a result, parts of Baghdad’s Green Zone were blocked off on September 16.
On September 3, parliament held a special session on the disappearance of 1,700 cadets, most of them Shi'a, from the Speicher air force training college in Tikrit after it was overrun by Islamic State militants in June.
The session came a day after 200 relatives of the cadets burst into parliament to demand that army commanders be held accountable.
Some relatives are now threatening to storm government buildings outside of Baghdad, including a prison with captured militants alleged to have been involved in the massacre.