The Iraqi military command acknowledged yesterday the "excessive use of force" during clashes with protesters in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad, which killed at least 13 people, last night, according to security and medical sources, while «Popular Mobilization» threatened to prevent protests Violence, as a series of attacks and threats against several media outlets in Iraq, worried the United Nations, journalists and activists, demanding the government to prevent the "silence" of the media covering the protests.

In detail, the Iraqi security media cell, in a statement, that Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, directed to «withdraw all army units from Sadr City, and replaced with federal police, as a result of the events in Sadr City last night, and the use of excessive force and Specific rules of engagement ».

He confirmed the start of procedures to hold the elements responsible, who "committed these wrong acts."

The announcement came hours after a statement by the Prime Minister's Office, announcing that Abdul-Mahdi discussed - in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - the protests that pervaded the country.

The statement said: «Prime Minister reviewed the developments of the security situation, and return to normal life after lifting the curfew, and confirmed the control of security forces and restore stability».

The government has put forward a package of reforms and measures and will continue to do more to meet citizens' demands, he added.

For his part, announced the head of the Popular Mobilization Commission, Faleh Fayyad, yesterday, that his factions «ready to intervene to prevent any coup or insurgency in Iraq, if requested by the government».

Fayyad considers popular protests, in which protesters demand to fight corruption and improve the country's economy, among other legitimate demands, as a "failed scheme to overthrow the regime."

He said: «There are those who wanted to conspire on the stability and unity of Iraq, we know who is behind the demonstrations, and the scheme to overthrow the system failed», stressing that there will be «retribution for those who wanted to bad Iraq».

The demonstrations, which spread in several Iraqi cities, raised banners and slogans calling for an end to Iranian hegemony in Iraq.

The night before yesterday, more deaths as renewed clashes between Iraqi security forces and protesters, and before the latest clashes in Sadr City in Baghdad, yesterday, an Interior Ministry spokesman said the death toll reached 104 people, including eight security forces, during the unrest The country has seen since last Tuesday.

The spokesman added that the number of injured reached 6107 people, and more than 1000 of them are police and security forces. He said that the protesters set fire to dozens of buildings, but denied at the time that the security forces fired directly at the protesters.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, life has gradually resumed, but tension has not eased as authorities step up announcements of social measures, in an attempt to calm the anger of protesters who say they have "nothing to lose" in an oil-rich country where more than one person lives. Among all five below the poverty line.

The weekend raid reinforced concerns about freedom of expression, which first affected the authorities' complete blocking of the Internet, after an anti-government protest movement began in Baghdad and several southern cities.

Last Saturday, Arabic-language NRT channels, headquartered in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Saudi Arabia-owned Al-Arabiya and the local Tigris TV channel, were raided by unknown assailants, they said in a statement.

The channel «NRT» that the gunmen smashed the equipment, prompting them to stop broadcasting temporarily, and seized the phones of employees.

For its part, Al-Arabiya published a video of a surveillance camera, showing about a dozen men in military uniforms and helmets, storming its office in Baghdad and removing screens from the walls, in addition to sabotage.

Al-Arabiya noted that it had received "guarantees" from the office of Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi to investigate the incident.

The UN representative in Iraq, Hines-Blachart, said she was "shocked by the sabotage and intimidation carried out by masked gunmen."

"Government efforts are needed to protect journalists. A free media is the best guarantee of strong democracy."

A security source said that another local channel «Al-Nahrain», has been raided headquarters and the destruction of equipment, in addition to receiving the channels «Hana Baghdad» and «good» threats.

"We have received direct threats about our coverage of the protests," said a journalist at Al-Rasheed TV, which has covered the protests closely and accused security forces of indiscriminate violence.

The journalist, who asked not to be identified, added: "They told us, either you have changed your line of liberation, or your fate will be similar, to NRT and the rest, so we preferred to limit our coverage."

Over the past week, bloggers and activists in the country's southern regions have also reported receiving text messages and phone calls threatening them and their families.

Iraq ranks 156th out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders list of the 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

Reporters Without Borders criticized the restrictions imposed by the security forces on journalists as a "disproportionate and unjustified restriction on the right to information."

"Instead of banning all journalistic activities, the security forces and local authorities have a duty to ensure the safety of journalists so that they can complete their reports," said Sabrina Bennoy, head of the Middle East office of the organization.

For his part, the head of the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, Ziad al-Ajili, said that this is the first time that "we are witnessing similar attempts to intimidate" the media. He warned that "there is a fear of other attacks."