The clashes erupted on Friday (October 4th) in Baghdad between riot police and protesters, the day Iraq's highest Shiite authority warned of a worsening of the dispute if the authorities did not respond quickly to his requests.

Forty people have been killed and hundreds wounded, according to official sources, since the beginning of this movement Tuesday, born of calls on social networks to protest against corruption, unemployment and decay of public services.

Demonstrations in the Iraqi capital and in several southern Shiite regions are unheard of in a country accustomed to partisan, tribal or confessional mobilizations. They are the first test for the government of Adel Abdel-Mahdi, in place for barely a year and who called for patience.

Friday and despite the Internet shutdown and the curfew in these areas since Thursday, Iraqis have again taken to the streets, mainly to Baghdad, where they flocked to Tahrir Square, facing a huge security deployment.

Many clashes broke out between protesters and security forces. The actual live fire from the security forces was very heavy and AFP journalists saw several wounded by bullets, including belly and head.

In a residential area near Tahrir Square, most shops and petrol stations were closed. Those who were open were stormed by customers wanting to buy vegetables, which tripled due to road closures to Baghdad.

A "study of demands of protesters" Saturday

The movement resumed after Thursday evening address by Adel Abdel-Mahdi, who asked for time to improve the living conditions of 40 million people in a country less than two years ago. four decades of conflict, and chronic shortages of electricity and drinking water.

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"The government must change the way it deals with the country's problems," said Ahmed al-Safi, a representative of the country's highest-ranking Shia al-Sistani, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in a mosque in Kerbala, south of Baghdad.

It must "improve public services, find jobs for the unemployed, avoid patronage in the public service and end corruption cases," he added. "If the demonstrations falter for a time, they will resume and will be stronger and more massive," he warned, in the name of Ayatollah Sistani, a very influential figure in the Shiite majority country.

Ayatollah Sistani has placed the greatest responsibility for the mismanagement of the state to the deputies, who announced that their Saturday session would be dedicated to "the study of the demands of the demonstrators".

Nevertheless the demonstrators seem determined to continue their movement which affects, besides Baghdad, the provinces of Najaf, Missane, Zi Qar, Wassit, Diwaniya, Babylon and Basra.

"Either we die or we change the diet"

"We listened to Adel Abdel-Mahdi, it's a failed and disappointing speech, and we reject it as a whole," says Ali el-Abadi, who came from Basra (south) to join the protesters, angry at the indigent public services. unemployment that affects one in four youth and corruption that has already swallowed up four times the state budget in the last 16 years.

"It's been more than 15 years that we hear the same promises (...) They will not make us leave the street," indignant Sayyed, a 32-year-old protester in Baghdad. "We continue: either we die or we change the diet."

While the authorities denounced "saboteurs" among the protesters after the first demonstrators were killed, Amnesty International urged Baghdad to "immediately order the security forces to stop using excessive force" and restore the Internet connection.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on Iraq to carry out a "quick" investigation into the deaths and "to allow people to exercise their rights to freedom of expression".

For the moment, mainly Sunni areas in northern Iraq and west of Baghdad, which had been ravaged by the war against the jihadists, have not seen protests. The autonomous region of Kurdistan either.

With AFP