"We are not mendes" .. Sayid repeated repeatedly on his way to Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, in response to the accusations of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, to the protesters who confirmed the continuation of their mobility, disregarding the prime minister's promises "until the overthrow of the government."

The first Friday of the protests in Baghdad was not like any Friday in the city.

Although congestion usually eases on the first weekend, the capital seemed divided.

The neighborhoods of the outskirts of Baghdad were a ghost town. Some of the routine security checkpoints were empty of soldiers, but the center has become a battleground between security forces and demonstrators who have been arriving since early morning, as they turn to work.

Police blocked main and secondary streets with concrete blocks and armored vehicles. The buzzing of bullets was dense on the streets leading to the assembly square, as trucks and buses carrying masked protesters hoisted Iraqi flags and took refuge from the shaded sidewalks of the Husseiniya banners took refuge before embarking on the confrontation.

From time to time, a truck passes back and forth with a coffin. The AFP could not confirm that it was carrying dead people.

"We are not indifferent, but we have come to demand our rights and nothing to lose," the 32-year-old unemployed told AFP.

«Even if you kill»

The government has accused “mendesine” and “non-peaceful aggressors” of causing casualties during the protests.

"What do renters with children do? I am one of the people who do not know its fate, I do not have a job, I do not have a house, and I am confused how I will provide a living for my children, we want a radical change, either we are actually changing or I will not withdraw even if killed.

The wave of protests, which began Tuesday, in Iraq on its fifth day, in a test that seems so difficult for the government, Adel Abdul Mahdi, which has been a year since its formation.

The prime minister's speech to the Iraqi people on Thursday night was not so convincing to the demonstrators that some criticized his timing by saying, "Even the drunks sleep at the time."

The government's handling of the crisis, and the harsh handling of demonstrators by security forces using live bullets, escalated the confrontation on the street.

"I have been in the demonstrations for three days," said a masked protester, who declined to be named.

That violence called for a comment from the Shia religious authority, which announced yesterday its support for the protesters' demands, but at the same time drew attention to "riots" and left the door open to the authorities to seize the opportunity to absorb the anger of the street with reform "before it is too late."

"With respect to the reference, but did nothing for us, what did the reference?" In 2014, when the Islamic State terrorist organization reached the outskirts of Baghdad, we fought after the fatwa, and today they left us. ''

"This is a country of oil and good things. I dug here three meters deep, you see oil and we are hungry!"

«Tuk Tuk» is a crucial element

In addition, the authorities cut off the Internet in the country, and withheld any possibility of communication between protesters and abroad. They were waiting for anyone to come to pull out their phones and show their violence in the protest.

From burning tires, to indiscriminate gunfire and mass escape of demonstrators in front of them, to the transport of wounded and wounded.

Thus, protesters point to a shortage of ambulances in place, so that «Tuk Tuk» became a decisive factor in the events.

“The tuk-tuk is essential,” said Ali Abdulreda, 20, a tuk-tuk driver.

"We also transfer wounded people inside the protest squares to nearby hospitals. We do this for free and do not consider it a source of livelihood for the country," said Abdulreda, who works daily in the "demonstration season" from 6 am to 8 pm.

The Iraqi government accused “mendesin” and “non-peaceful aggressors” of causing casualties during the protests.