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Members of the Iraqi Federal Police on a street in Baghdad. October 7, 2019. REUTERS / Wissm al-Okili

" Stop the escalation of violence ." This is the message that the Iraqi President wanted to pass in his televised speech on Monday night, a week after Iraq was shaken by an unprecedented protest movement. While the death toll is more than 100, a Shiite paramilitary coalition close to Iran has said it is ready to intervene to prevent a coup if the government orders it.

With our correspondent in Baghdad, Lucile Wassermann

The violence continues in the streets of Baghdad, they occur particularly late in the day and are now concentrated in the district of Sadr City, which gives the impression of a relative return to normal in other areas of the city. The strategy of the security forces is to regroup all the demonstrators in this Shiite neighborhood and especially to prevent them from reaching the big rallying point since the beginning of the demonstrations, Tahrir Square.

The police forces accused ...

In the face of accusations of a bloody crackdown on the protest, interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan said the security forces had never fired on protesters and that malicious hands were behind the attacks. He added that an investigation was under way to identify those responsible. On the protesters' side, many accuse the popular mobilization forces of being behind some of these attacks against them, accusations that remain unproven today.

This armed group coalition, close to Iran and recently integrated into the Iraqi security apparatus, did not react directly, but in a statement one of the spokesmen announced that it was ready to intervene if need.

► To listen: Bloody demonstrations: " the current government has no electoral legitimacy "