BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi ordered anti-terror forces to deploy on the streets of Baghdad and units of the same forces deployed in the southern city of Nassiriya on Saturday evening.

This comes after the bloody and continuous protests since Friday left 63 people dead and about 2,600 wounded, while the leader of the Sadrist movement Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Prime Minister and political elites to resign, or face the dismissal if no reforms are made to contain the crisis of demonstrations escalating in many provinces of the country, where Demonstrators' demands focus on improving living conditions and the departure of the political class.

The Reuters news agency quoted Iraqi security sources on Saturday evening the issuance of a memo from Abdul Mahdi to the commander of the counter-terrorism, informing him to deploy his forces and use all necessary means to end protests against the government.

Reuters quoted local police and security sources as saying that the Iraqi counterterrorism agency was also deployed in the southern city of Nassiriya, where protesters clashed with security forces on Saturday, dispersing demonstrations by beating and arresting dozens.

These developments came after the Iraqi Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces held a meeting of security leaders on Saturday, to follow up the situation in Baghdad and the provinces and ways to enhance security and stability in cooperation with citizens, according to a statement of the Iraqi government distributed on Saturday evening.

The developments also came after the follow-up cell in the Office of the Iraqi Prime Minister that several committees for the coordination of demonstrations in the provinces announced the postponement of demonstrations and withdrew from them because of the deviation of the course of peaceful demonstrations.

The Iraqi media quoted the follow-up cell that the postponement of the demonstrations came to reveal what they called coordination coordinators and opportunists who carried out killings and settling accounts.

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Demonstrations and victims
Thousands of demonstrators are still gathering in Tahrir Square and a number of provinces for the second day in a row. According to eyewitnesses quoted by the German Press Agency, the Iraqi security forces are still using tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.

Al-Jazeera correspondent said that the Iraqi security forces used Saturday evening tear gas canisters in Tahrir Square, in an attempt to disperse the crowds of demonstrators.

Police and medical sources said at least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded in Iraq on Saturday during clashes between demonstrators and security forces on the second day of protests.

Saturday's clashes came a day after violent protests on Friday in which at least 52 people were killed across Iraq as protesters frustrated with political elites who say they have failed to improve their lives after years of conflict and economic hardship.

In Baghdad, security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters in Tahrir Square. Security and medical sources said that four people were killed after they were hit with tear gas directly in their heads, and two people are in critical condition due to similar injuries.

Four protesters were killed and 17 wounded in the southern city of Nassiriya, where thousands of demonstrators came out despite the heavy security presence. Two other people died during protests in Hilla.

The Human Rights Commission in Iraq announced Saturday evening that the number of demonstrations witnessed in Iraq on Saturday and Friday amounted to 63 dead demonstrators, and 2592 injured demonstrators and security forces.

A statement by the Commission that burned and damaged 83 government buildings and party headquarters in the provinces of Diwaniya, Missan, Wasit, Dhi Qar, Basra, Muthanna, Babylon and Karbala.

In the context, angry protesters set fire on Saturday to five factions headquarters of the Popular Mobilization in the province of Maysan in southern Iraq, according to a local security official quoted by the Anatolian Agency, and the headquarters of the targeted headquarters of the factions: Badr, the Imam Ali Brigades, the Negev, and the camp of Jerusalem, Ansar Allah Loyal.

Sadr called on political elites to resign and warned against dismissing them if reforms were not carried out (Reuters)

Threat of the chest
In the face of the bloody developments in the demonstrations, the bloc "Sairon" - the largest blocs of the Iraqi parliament and led by Muqtada al-Sadr - on Saturday evening an open sit-in in the House of Representatives, until the adoption of all the reforms demanded by the Iraqi people, and announced its transformation to the opposition.

This announcement was preceded by the call of Muqtada al-Sadr, the head of the Iraqi government and political elites to resign or reform to contain the escalating demonstrations in many provinces of the country.

"If demonstrations, sit-ins or strikes are not a solution for some, is clinging to power a solution?" Sadr said in a statement to the prime minister and ruling political parties.

"If you want the people not to be killed or burned, you corrupt, stop your hands from them and stop your oppression and oppression," Sadr told the ruling authorities.

The leader of the Sadrist movement called on the Prime Minister to stand with the demonstrators demanding reform, and warned of "sliding Iraq into the furnace of sedition and civil war if the demands of the demonstrators are not met."

For her part, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Iraq Jenin Hennes Blaskart, deplored and condemned the further loss of life and injuries that accompanied the demonstrations in the country, and condemned the UN official - in a statement - the destruction of public and private property.

It also expressed concern about what it described as an attempt by armed entities to disrupt the stability and unity of Iraq and to undermine the right of people to peaceful assembly.

The demonstrations are the second wave of bloody protests this month, and a series of clashes two weeks ago between protesters and security forces left 157 people dead and more than 6,000 wounded.