A protester was killed on Tuesday January 21 in Baghdad, according to doctors, while the protest movement blocked roads to put pressure on the Iraqi government to which it calls for deep reforms. The protester died after being hit by tear gas on Mohammad al-Qassem Street in the east of the capital.

Protesters tried to close the street by burning tires and clashes broke out with the security forces, who fired live bullets and tear gas to disperse them. Eight protesters were hospitalized for inhaling tear gas, doctors said on Tuesday after three others died in clashes in the capital.

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This protest movement started in October in Iraq but has lost its vigor in recent weeks in the face of mounting tensions between Washington and Tehran, two Baghdad allies. The protesters had paused the protest and issued a week-long ultimatum - which expired Monday - to leaders to respond to their demands, mainly a reshuffle of power through early elections. Since the deadline, groups of young people have resumed movement in Baghdad and in the south of the country.

On Tuesday, they blocked streets in the towns of Amara, Diwaniya, Kout and Basra, south of Baghdad. In Nassiriya, many demonstrators, most of them students, invaded the city center, sporting Iraqi flags, according to an AFP correspondent.

"With our soul, with our blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for you, Iraq!", Chanted some of them while others blocked the main roads north and south of the city. Hundreds of trucks were thus immobilized, some of them transporting oil.

For Tahseen Mohannad, a protester in Nassiriya, the demonstrations "will not stop despite the procrastination of the state and political parties when it comes to legitimate demands" of the movement. "We have shed blood and we will continue to shed the blood of young people to get rid of this political class," he added.

In addition to the call for elections, the protesters are calling for a reform of the electoral law, the appointment of an independent Prime Minister, the end of corruption and the end of the political system of distribution of posts according to ethnic groups and faiths.

With AFP

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