Protests rock Iraq

Iraqi security forces opened fire on thousands of demonstrators who defied a curfew in Baghdad yesterday and exchanged fire with gunmen in southern cities, bringing to 27 the death toll from three days of anti-government protests. The protests spread to other cities, where policemen said they increasingly encountered demonstrators carrying weapons.

Two policemen and two protesters were killed late yesterday in the city of Diwaniya some 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, according to police. In nearby Hilla one protester was bludgeoned to death, according to police and hospital sources. Three more died in a district of Baghdad and elsewhere in the capital protesters had set fire to army vehicles, security sources said.

The protests, in which more than 600 people have also been wounded, began over unemployment and poor services but have escalated into calls for a change of government. They appear to be independent of any political party and seemingly took the security forces by surprise. “The bullets do not scare us. They do not scare Iraqis. This will all come down over their heads,” said one protester in the capital.

At least 4,000 protesters gathered in Baghdad’s Tayaran Square and attempted to march onto the central Tahrir Square but were met with open fire and heavy tear gas. Police used live ammunition in the Zaafaraniya district of Baghdad, where three protesters were shot dead, and there were protests in the northwestern Shula district. The United Nations urged the government to “exercise maximum restraint” and allow peaceful protests.