Deaths in Iraq pro-reform rallies

25/02/2011| IslamWeb

Thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets across the country to protest against corruption and a lack of basic services in an organized nationwide "day of rage", inspired by uprisings around the Arab world.

In two northern Iraqi cities, security forces trying to push back crowds opened fire on Friday, killing six demonstrators.

In Baghdad, the capital, demonstrators knocked down blast walls, threw rocks and scuffled with club-wielding troops.

Hundreds of people carrying Iraqi flags and banners streamed into Baghdad's Tahrir Square, which was under heavy security.

Military vehicles and security forces lined the streets around the square and nearby Jumhuriya bridge was blocked off.

Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said there was a violent standoff between the protesters and the riot police on the bridge that leads to the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Ahmed Rushdi, head of the House of Iraq Expertise Foundation, tried to join the protests in Baghdad but was prevented from doing so by the army.

"This is not a political protest, but a protest by the people of Iraq. We want social reform, jobs for young people and direct supervision because there is lots of corruption," Rushdi told Al Jazeera.

Eight years after the US-led invasion which ousted Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader, development in the country remains slow and there are shortages of food, water, electricity and jobs.

Protesters confirmed that they were protesting for a better life and better basic services.

"We are free young men and we are not belonging to a certain ideological movement but we ask for our simple legitimate demands that include the right of education and the right of decent life,” Malik Abdon, a protester, said.

Protesters have demonstrated throughout Iraq, from the northern city of Kirkuk to the southern oil hub of Basra.

A crowd of angry marchers in the northern city of Hawija, 240km north of Baghdad, tried to break into the city's municipal building, Ali Hussein Salih, the head of the local city council, said.

Security forces trying to block the crowd opened fire, killing three demonstrators and wounding 15, local officials said.

The Iraqi army was eventually called in to restore order.

In Mosul, also in northern Iraq, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the provincial council building, demanding jobs and better services, when guards opened fire, according to a police official.

A police and hospital official said three protesters were killed and 15 people wounded. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media.

Friday's protests were organized mainly through social networking site Facebook, echoing mass rallies mobilized by youths through social media which unseated Tunisia and Egypt's long-ruling heads of state.

In recent weeks, protests had been mounting in cities and towns around Iraq. Several people have been killed and scores wounded in clashes between demonstrators and security forces.

PHOTO CAPTION

Protesters react during clashes with police in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 25, 2011.

Al-Jazeera