Numbers of citizens flocked to the demonstration squares in Baghdad and a number of the central and southern governorates, to demand political and economic reform, while the Shiite authority affirmed that following peaceful methods in demonstrations is the basic condition for achieving victory in the battle of reform.
The Al-Jazeera correspondent in Iraq stated that the Tahrir Square in central Baghdad witnessed yesterday the five major crowds, to express their rejection of the killing of a civilian and the suspension of his body near the square.
In the meantime, the Shiite authority in Iraq stressed that the repeated assassination and kidnapping of demonstrators underscore the necessity of restricting weapons to the state.
During Friday sermon in Karbala, Ahmed al-Safi, a spokesman for the Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani, stressed the need for the relevant authorities to punish those behind the crimes against demonstrators, including the Al Wathba Square incident in Baghdad.
Al-Safi added that the demonstrators have a fateful battle today, the battle of reform and the end of a long era of corruption, and that the Iraqis are capable of fighting the battle of reform.
Protests erupted in Iraq in early October, and were marred by widespread violence that left at least 492 dead and more than 17,000 wounded, according to statistics based on the Human Rights Commission (official) and medical and security sources.
The protesters forced the government of Adel Abdul-Mahdi to resign in early December, and they insist on the departure and accountability of all political elites accused of corruption and waste of state funds, which have governed since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.