Protesters have clashed with police in a wave of anti-government protests to hit at least three cities in Iraq, police officials say.

The protests took place on Friday in Ramadi, Samara and Baghdad against what the participants described as government sectarian policies that target Sunni Muslims.

Anti-riot police in Baghdad used batons and water hoses in order to prevent worshippers from crossing a bridge leading to the most venerated Sunni mosque in the capital, located in the primarily Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several worshippers sustained bruises and minor injuries in the skirmishes at the bridge, about 2km from the Abu Hanifa mosque.

Iraqi security forces had prevented worshippers from holding Friday prayers at the mosque last week as well, a development that reflects heightened sectarian tensions nearly a decade after the US invasion of Iraq.

'Showered with water'

Abdul-Rahman al-Azzawi was among of a group of people who tried to cross the 14th of Ramadan bridge when they were met by security forces.

"We were showered with water and the policemen started to beat us,'' he said.

"I do not know the reason behind this savage attack. We were only going to a mosque, not to al-Maliki's office in the Green Zone,'' referring to the heavily secured quarter in the center of Baghdad where many officials have their offices.

The clashes did not reach the Abu Hanifa mosque itself.

The area around the holy site was calm and hundreds of people, including Osama al-Nujaifi, the Sunni speaker of Iraq's parliament, attended the Friday prayers there.

During the sermon in Abu Hanifa, Ahmed Haasan al-Taha, a Sunni religious leader, criticized the restriction of movement imposed on worshippers.

"Several days ago, the authorities promised us that they would provide the people free access to Abu Hanifa, but once again the government officials failed to live to their promises,'' Taha said.

The protests in Sunni Muslim-majority areas were sparked by the arrest of bodyguards assigned to Rafia al-Issawi, Iraqi finance minister, in late December.

Sunni protesters complain they suffer from discrimination by the Shia-led government of Nouri al-Maliki.

PHOTO CAPTION

Protesters chant slogans against the Iraq's Shiite-led government as they wave a flag, with Arabic writing that reads, "there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger," during a demonstration in Fallujah, 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 15, 2013.

Al-Jazeera