DOCUMENT EUROPE 1
The Iraqi youth can not take it anymore. For a week now, thousands of Iraqis have been demonstrating against corruption, unemployment and decaying public services. The protest, violently repressed by the police, has officially killed more than a hundred people and more than 6,000 wounded. While Baghdad has returned to relative calm over the past few hours, Europe 1 has been able to join one of these young people, despite the communications cuts imposed by the authorities.
"I have a degree in geography, and my only job is to load the races of people in their car"
Like thousands of other young people, Yacoub started on October 1 to gather in Tahrir Square in Baghdad. He is thirty, and like a quarter of the Iraqi youth, is struggling to find a job. "I have a degree in geography, and my only job is to load people's races into the trunk of their car Every time I'm accepted for a job in the administration, when I get my name was wiped out, replaced by someone else's, who gave money, it happened to me six times, in Iraq you have work only if you pay! ", protests -t it.
Born of calls on social networks, this first major challenge since the establishment of the government of Adel Abdel Mahdi, almost a year ago, emanated from any political or religious organization. "Some want to change the whole government, others are there because they need housing, money or just enough to eat!" Yacoub says.
"Government brings militias to kill Iraqis"
Protesters, who have become more numerous over the days, are first scattered with water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets. Then real gunfire resounds in Baghdad, coming from those Yacoub called "men in black". "They have guns, with real bullets, and they shoot at people, it's not the army, it's the militia that the government calls in to kill Iraqis, when they started firing." Many people took bullets in the chest, in the head, for five days, they only killed, killed, killed, "says the young Iraqi.
"All I want is a job"
Despite the fear, Yacoub and his friends continue to mobilize, in smaller groups, in other parts of Baghdad. The government has published a list of social measures that are expected to come into effect soon, but it is out of the question for them to stop there. "All I want," he says, "it's a job."