The Commission for Human Rights in Iraq said that the total number of dead demonstrators during the past two days increased to ten, on the other hand, a source in the presidency stated that the political parties have failed so far to name a new prime minister.
The number of wounded has risen to 130 in the capital, Baghdad and the southern governorates, according to UNHCR estimates, which indicated that security forces arrested 88 demonstrators during the same period.
UNHCR said that four of the dead were killed in Baghdad, three in Basra, two demonstrators in Karbala, and one demonstrator in Diyala.
She indicated that she had documented numbers of demonstrators blocking the main roads linking governorates and burning tires, and the continued closure of official departments and educational institutions.
New Prime Minister
Meanwhile, a source in the office of the President of the Republic, Barham Salih, said that the parties' discussions concerned with naming a new prime minister as a substitute for Adel Abdel-Mahdi had not led to a result yet, at a time when Abdel-Mahdi called on the demonstrators to stop demonstrating, pointing to a stage he described as difficult.
State television said that Saleh is currently choosing between three politicians to choose who leads a transitional government that works to calm popular anger, adding that his decision is expected to be announced today, Tuesday at the earliest.
In a related context, the Iraqi "Hezbollah" Brigades threatened to expel the president from Baghdad if he met his American counterpart, Donald Trump, on the sidelines of the Davos Forum in Switzerland.
Protests escalated
Since Monday, the popular movement has stepped up its protests by closing many universities, schools, government institutions, and main roads in Baghdad and the central and southern cities and towns.
The demonstrators headed towards escalation with the expiry of a deadline granted to the authorities to respond to their demands, the first of which is to assign an impartial independent person to form the next government, as well as to hold accountable the killers of the demonstrators and activists in the protests.
Clashes erupted in al-Tayaran Square in Baghdad and a number of southern cities, including Basra, Karbala and Najaf, and protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
The country has witnessed unprecedented protests since the beginning of last October, interspersed with violence that left 510 dead and thousands of wounded, most of them protesters.