Five demonstrators were killed on Saturday in a shootout during popular anti-government protests, a health ministry source said. As the Iraqi parliament tried to hold a session to discuss the protesters' demands, its president promised to implement decisions that would ease the protests.

The number of victims of the demonstrations in Iraq has risen to about 100 dead and more than four thousand injured, prompting the presidents of the Republic and the government to demand accountability for those involved in the use of violence, and parliament failed to convene its emergency session today to discuss the demands of protesters.

Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi revealed that soft loans will be granted to the owners of the factories in order to restart them and create new jobs.

At a press conference in the presence of a number of members of parliament, he said that work will be on the construction of 100,000 housing units in all Iraqi provinces.

He also promised the Iraqi parliament to grant tax-free loans to those who do not have housing, in addition to exempting all farmers from rent allowances during the previous years until 2020.

"We recommended that we facilitate investment in order to create one million jobs," Halbousi said.

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Accounting of those involved
The Iraqi Council of Representatives has failed to hold a session to discuss the demands of the demonstrators because of the boycott of parliamentary blocs, the most prominent bloc "Sairon" (the largest seats in parliament) and supported by the leader of the Sadrist movement Muqtada al-Sadr.

In the same context, the President of the Republic Barham Saleh and Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on the need to hold accountable those involved in the use of violence and the safety of demonstrators.

After a meeting with Abdul Mahdi, Saleh's office said the meeting dealt with current events and stressed the need to meet the legitimate demands of the demonstrators.

The office added that Saleh and Abdul-Mahdi stressed the need to hold accountable those involved in the use of violence, and resolute response to what he described as criminals who fired live bullets.

The Iraqi Presidential Office said that the two sides discussed ways to prevent the recent events, so as to ensure the public interest and stability of Iraq.

In an effort to calm the street, authorities on Saturday lifted a curfew imposed a few days ago in Baghdad and a number of cities in the south and challenged by protesters.

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Baghdad, Walid Ibrahim, said that the authorities allowed pedestrians to pass through Tahrir and Al-Sunak squares, which have witnessed noisy demonstrations in the past few days, with large numbers of security forces still on the roads leading to these squares.

Demonstrations in Iraq since last Tuesday, began from Baghdad to demand better public services and provide jobs and fight corruption, before they spread to other provinces.