Three protesters were killed on Sunday, November 10 in southern Iraq and dozens wounded by law enforcement officers firing into the center of Baghdad, which has become a battlefield.
The protest, launched on October 1 to demand the fall of a power deemed corrupt and incompetent, at a time seemed to shake the authorities. But after more than a month - and 319 deaths according to an official record announced Sunday morning - their ranks are tighter than ever.
The majority of the political forces have even agreed to end the protests that consume the leaders and the powerful Iranian neighbor, considered as the architect of the Iraqi political system eaten away by patronage. After this agreement for a "return to normal life", the security forces have intensified the repression in a country cut off from the world for a week, without internet or social networks.
Ambulance Ballet
In Nasiriyah, three new demonstrators were killed in the evening by bullets from the security forces and nearly 200 others wounded, while in Baghdad, on Khallani Square, near Tahrir Square, waves of protesters ran under fire. in a cloud of tear gas.
In the crowd, a ballet of ambulances and touk-touks carried dozens of wounded, not far from Tahrir, epicenter of the protest where hundreds of demonstrators are still found.
Protesters say they are determined, despite the arrests and kidnappings in their ranks and sound bombs exploding dozens, especially at night, shaking the entire center of Baghdad - a technique of intimidation ensure militants and police under the guise of anonymity.
On Saturday, nine protesters were killed in Baghdad - by bullets or tear gas grenades denounced as non-regulatory because of military type and weighing ten times more than elsewhere in the world.
Dreaded blood bath
The parliamentary Human Rights Commission has called the authorities to account, reporting sniper fire on rooftops and injuries to "shots and hunting weapons". Since early October, the state also accuses snipers but ensures not to identify them.
While protesters now fear a dispersal by force of Tahrir and Amnesty International fears "a bloodbath", the UN mission in Iraq (Unami) on Sunday night proposed a plan to end the crisis.
First and foremost, while many in Iraq denounce "a new republic of fear," Unami calls for the release of all arrested protesters. It also calls for light to be shed on the kidnapping of activists and doctors - which is for human rights defenders by forces acting on behalf of the state as well as armed groups.
The Unami Roadmap also proposes a referendum on a constitutional reform within three months, a review of the electoral law within two weeks and new anti-corruption measures in the 12th most corrupt country in the world.
Washington calls for elections
These amendments, however, are far from the demands of the protesters who are now demanding the end of the political system as it was created after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. They want a new Constitution and a completely renewed political class.
For its part, Washington on Sunday called on the Iraqi government to organize "early elections" and to conduct an "electoral reform". She also called for "stop violence against protesters". "The United States is gravely concerned by continued attacks on protesters, civic activists and the media, as well as restrictions on Internet access in Iraq," the White House said in a statement.
With AFP