There is no legal age here .. 10, 20, or 60 years old .. Men and women, from Baghdad’s destitute neighborhoods or from its finest universities, from the Basra tribesmen or from its theaters .. All of these give the “October Revolution” in Iraq a speaking atmosphere.

Their features tell stories and dreams that are similar and sometimes different in a country rich in oil wealth and poor by the corruption of a political class that has destroyed many hopes and dreams.

Poverty knocked the door of "Umm Qasim", so she went out with her black cloak that did not hide her courage, demonstrating Saif Al-Muttalib in the face of one of her poorest, and her weapon is an Iraqi flag "from shoulder to shoulder."

"The politicians have shortcomings, and we have nothing," said the housewife, who is unaware of reading and writing but who is good at building homelands and taking part in all demonstrations since the fall of the dictator Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

Two months ago, Umm Qasim, which she says bore a "revolutionary spirit", was in the symbolic Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, among the ranks of the demonstrators facing the riot police.

I'm not scared

Baghdad and southern cities have witnessed several chaos in the past days. Live bullets and tear gas canisters, resulting in suffocation and sometimes death in the chest and head, causing protesters to form "special teams" to confront those bombs intended for military purposes, and are 10 times heavier than those used during demonstrations in other regions of the world.

An AFP photographer was able to photograph three members of these teams, ages 21, 23 and 30, all of whom are unemployed and have been demonstrating in Baghdad since October 1.

The first is the youngest, somewhat similar to the conductor of the orchestra, with thick gloves that can pick up bombs, a medical mask under two glasses, and a solid helmet, armed with first aid materials strapped to his arm.

As for the other two, one of them drew a "Superman" mask on his face, carrying a small shield to repel the flying bombs, and returned it to the direction of its launcher.

They call their comrades what they do "shaqfa", which is a word that means in the Iraqi colloquial dialect to hand over or throw part of the building stones to others, standing in a high place.

But when those bombs break into the window of these, the paramedics turn in. Volunteers turn from demonstrators to nurses, like Fatima, a 23-year-old student, or Sahar, a student at the College of Engineering.

"This is the first time" that she stands on the front lines, and next to her are Pepsi, yeast, or transparent solutions to spray the eyes of gas-infected people, says Sahar, whose Baghdad veil has become a veil that protects it from gas inhalation. But she stresses, "I'm not afraid."

For his part, the comedian, Muntadhar, imitates these injuries and turns them into art with makeup on the eyes, bleeding wounds, and black lines on his clothes and face, as if from the smoke of burning tires.

Everything is more beautiful

This 22-year-old, who comes from the oil-rich Basra Governorate, plays the role of the "martyr" in a play made in a location only hundreds of meters away from the places of real violence in Tahrir Square, to honor the victims who fell as a result of the repression, and their number reached more than 450 people. More than 20,000 people were injured, according to an AFP tally, according to medical and security sources.

The protesters also included Ali al-Hosi, 34, who is wearing an Arab uniform, to demand "the trial of soldiers and police who killed demonstrators." All the cities of central and southern Iraq witnessed massive demonstrations, in which youths who left their schools for weeks participated, Shi'a clerics, such as Nasser Al-Waeli (42 years), and university professors such as Adel Naji (56 years), were present in the protest yards in Basra, Baghdad, and Najaf, Ad Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah, and many other cities.

The students, from all academic levels, formed the pillar of the demonstrations, including Zeina Rafid, Hassan Al-Tamimi, Bani Dhia, and Taha Mushtaq, all in the early twenties.

"We want change," says Mushtaq. As for Hassan Abu Ala, known as Sheikh of the demonstrators (65 years), dressed in black clothes and waving the Iraqi flag, he says that "white-haired people must be here also to support the youth" to achieve this change.