MBC Baghdad's Office Stormed by Protesters Over Al-Muhandis

Outraged Iraqi protestors stormed MBC Iraq offices in Baghdad, in response to a report broadcasted through the Saudi-owned TV channel referring to a top Iraqi militia leader, who was killed in a US airstrike earlier this year.

Translation: "Video shows first moments of protesters storming MBC Iraq building after the latter insulted the martyred leader Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis."

Remembering the 1981 Iraqi embassy bombing in Beirut, MBC Iraq referred to Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis as the one who orchestrated the attack, which killed 61 people including Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon and Balqis Al-Rawi, the Iraqi wife of Syrian well-known poet Nizar Qabbani, who was working at the cultural department of the embassy.

The anti-Baathist Shi'a Islamist group Al-Dawa was then declared responsible for the attack.

Fans of Al-Muhandis took to Twitter to voice out their anger against the MBC group using the hashtag #ام_بي_سي_قناة_الارهاب_السعودي (MBC is the channel of Saudi terrorism) before they called for an actual protest by MBC offices on Monday afternoon.

Translation: "A protest against MBC"

Even though calls for the protest asked attendees to maintain social distancing, at a time the Coronavirus continues to spread across the country, protesters soon began rioting in the square by the office building.

Protests accused the Saudi Royal Family of Al-Saud of systematically insulting Al-Muhandis and other Iranian-backed military leaders using Saudi media outlets.

Online commentators continue to demand that "the Iraqi government does everything possible to close offices of MBC Iraq and stop its broadcast."

Translation: "We urge the National Communications and Media Commission of Iraq to close offices of the terrorist Saudi MBC channel, which has shamelessly insulted the martyr leader Al-Muhandis accusing him of being a terrorist. We urge all politicians to write against these Saudi provocations against our martyrs and our leaders."

Al-Muhandis, who was the leader of Shia Popular Mobilization Forces, was killed during the first week of 2020 during a critical US airstrike near Baghdad's international airport, targeting him and high-ranking Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani.