BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi protesters continued their protests and shut down government departments and schools in several areas on Saturday without paying any heed to new promises made by large political blocs. Protesters gathered in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, the main weighting point for protests since last month.

Thousands of Iraqi students and citizens flocked to the demonstration yards in Baghdad, and a number of southern provinces to participate in the ongoing demonstrations for the twenty-sixth day in a row, demanding the dismissal of the government and dissolve the parliament and amend the constitution. And stability in the early morning hours, where there was no violence against demonstrators.

Several parts of southern Iraq witnessed continuous protests, as government departments and schools in the cities of Kut, Najaf and Nasiriyah were closed, and in the oil-rich province of Basra, demonstrators blocked roads leading to oil fields and the country's ports by burning tires to prevent workers from reaching these sites.

Protesters blocked the entrance to the port near Basra and barred trucks from entering the port, which is used to export gas condensate shipments and import building materials, electrical products and food, officials at Khor al-Zubair commodity port said.

The protests continued the day after a meeting of political blocs representing key parties in the government, at the end of which proposals for reform steps were issued until the end of this year, and included the Iraqi President, Barham Saleh, and the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, and leaders of political blocs, including the two former prime ministers: Haider al-Abadi , Nuri al-Maliki, and leaders in the «Popular Mobilization Forces», but in the absence of the current Prime Minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi.

The meeting gave the government 45 days to expire by the end of 2019 to implement the promised reforms.If it fails to do so, confidence will be withdrawn and the current election law will be amended fairly to provide equal chances to win independent candidates. Otherwise, they will call for early legislative elections, and these proposals have not resonated with the demonstrators in Tahrir Square.

A spokesman for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces, Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, announced in a press statement that arrest warrants have been issued for those who close schools under the Anti-Terrorism Law, because the closure of schools is a recognized crime, the perpetrators are immediately referred to the courts.

The past weeks witnessed almost complete disruption to the attendance of students in schools, institutes and universities, in solidarity with the demands of the demonstrators, despite repeated calls from the Ministries of Education and Higher Education to urge students to attend classes.