Students and teachers continued their sit-ins yesterday in different cities in southern Iraq, coinciding with UN efforts to pressure the government to adopt major reforms within three months to face the protests calling for the "overthrow of the regime."
The United Nations is seeking to be the godmother of the solution to the Iraqi crisis, through the development of a road map and a meeting with the religious authority in Iraq on Monday, after the political parties in the country, through the intervention of neighboring Iran, an agreement on the survival of the regime.
But this has not deterred the street so far. Most schools and universities in southern Iraq were closed yesterday after the Teachers' Union declared a general strike in an attempt to restore momentum to the weeks of anti-government protests.
Despite calls from the authorities to "return to normalcy," demonstrators continued to demand a new regime and change the political class in Iraq.
Hundreds of demonstrators yesterday in the city of Kut, and toured the closure of schools and official departments.
Also in Hilla, south of Baghdad, schools have not opened their doors to the absence of teachers, while public departments have reduced working hours.
In Nasiriyah, where two demonstrators were killed on Tuesday night, according to medical sources, and in Diwaniya, the two cities that are the spearhead in the wave of protests in the south, educational institutions closed all doors.
That momentum was fueled by the words of Iraq's religious authority, Ali al-Sistani, who gave a cover to the protesters in the face of the government's attempt to break it up.
After meeting Sistani on Monday in Najaf, the UN representative, Jenin Hennes Blaskhart, announced that the reference had approved the road map presented by the organization, and includes a review of the election law within two weeks.
Sistani, who never speaks to the public, is "worried to see the political forces not serious enough to implement similar reforms," said Plasskhart, who is visiting the Iraqi parliament on Wednesday.
In the capital Baghdad, young demonstrators continue to engage in confrontations with security forces in the commercial streets adjacent to Tahrir Square.
The security forces are again trying to block all roads leading to liberation with concrete blocks, after the demonstrators first dropped them.
The United Nations continues to mediate between the Iraqi parties, and demanded the release of all detained demonstrators, and highlight the kidnappings targeting activists and doctors.
It also called for a referendum on constitutional reform within three months, a review of the electoral law within two weeks, and additional measures to combat corruption.
In Kirkuk, the commander of the headquarters of the joint operations said the killing of one of the most dangerous terrorists of the organization «Daesh», in a joint security operation of the federal police and tribal crowd, near the Riyadh.
One of ISIS's most dangerous terrorists killed in a security operation west of Kirkuk.