Fresh anti-government protests erupted in Iraq on Friday, with at least five deaths reported after Iraqi police fired live rounds into the air to disperse protesters in Baghdad.
Iraqi police fired live shots into the air and dozens of tear gas canisters on Friday to disperse thousands of protesters on the streets of the capital, sending young demonstrators running for cover and covering the Baghdad's bridge with thick white smoke.
According to a senior Iraqi security official, at least five protesters were killed after being hit in the head or face by tear gas canisters, and dozens more were injured. There were no reports of live fire being used to disperse the protesters.
In the southern province Dhi Qar, demonstrators set fire to the government's headquarters, a police source said.
Several political party offices in other cities were also set alight.
The confrontations began early in the morning after anti-government demonstrations resumed, following a three-week hiatus. The protests began on Octobter 1 over corruption, unemployment and a lack of basic services. However, they quickly turned deadly as security forces cracked down, using live ammunition for days.
The protests then spread to several, mainly Shiite-populated southern provinces, and authorities imposed a curfew and shut down the internet for days in an effort to quell the unrest.
After a week of violence in the capital and the country's southern provinces, a government-appointed enquiry into the protests determined that security forces had used excessive force, killing 149 people and wounding over 3,000. Eight members of the security forces were also killed.
The protests, unprecedented in their scale, threatened to plunge Iraq into a new cycle of instability that potentially could be the most dangerous this conflict-scarred nation has faced, barely two years after declaring victory over the Islamic State group.
Subsequently, Iraqi security forces and government officials vowed to avoid further deadly violence and heavily deployed security forces on the streets of Baghdad in anticipation of Friday's protests.
'I want my country back, I want Iraq back'
As in the protests earlier this month, the protesters, organised on social media, started from the central Tahrir Square. The demonstrators, mostly young, unemployed men, carried Iraqi flags and chanted anti-government protests, demanding jobs, water and electricity.
"I want my country back, I want Iraq back," said Ban Soumaydai, 50, an employee at the Iraqi Education Ministry, who wore black jeans, a white T-shirt and carried an Iraqi flag with the hashtag #Wewantacountry printed on it.
According to the World Bank, one in five people live in poverty in Iraq and youth unemployment sits around 25 percent.
However, after thousands of protesters crossed the Jumhuriya Bridge leading to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the US Embassy and Iraqi government offices, soldiers fired at first just tear gas, then live rounds to push back the protesters after they removed concrete barriers in an effort to reach the Green Zone's entrance.
"Baghdad hurra hurra, fasad barra barra," they chanted, Arabic for "Baghdad is free, corruption is out".
Riot police in full gear and armed soldiers lined the bridge. Ambulances zipped back and forth, ferrying the injured to hospitals for treatment.
Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi has struggled to deal with the protests.
He gave an address to the nation in the early hours of Friday, promising a government reshuffle next week and pledging reforms. He told protesters they have a right to peaceful demonstrations and called on security forces to protect the protests.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP)
