Mass demonstration in Baghdad to commemorate the "October 2019 protests"

Thousands demonstrated Saturday in Baghdad to mark the third anniversary of the unprecedented uprising against power, corruption and mismanagement of public services in Iraq.

Protests erupted in October 2019 across the country, particularly in the south.

And it lasted for several months, during which hundreds of thousands of demonstrators camped in Tahrir Square, denouncing the spread of unemployment, the collapse of infrastructure and the lack of democracy.

This evening, demonstrations continued in the capital, but in smaller numbers, as well as in major southern cities such as Nassiriya and Basra, where protesters threw stones at security forces, who in turn threw tear gas canisters, according to an AFP photographer.

"The people want to overthrow the regime," chanted thousands of demonstrators, mostly young people, and raised Iraqi flags, as they gathered in the symbolic Tahrir Square to commemorate the anniversary.

The demonstrators gathered at the entrance to the Jumhuriya Bridge, which the security forces closed with three concrete blocks to prevent access to the Green Zone, which includes Western embassies and state institutions.

The police fired several bursts of tear gas and smoke to prevent the demonstrators from crossing these fortifications, and the two sides exchanged stones, according to an AFP correspondent.

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