Protests escalate across Iraq’s south, Baghdad

Baghdad, Iraq - Protests escalated across Iraq’s south and its capital Baghdad on Sunday as demonstrators sealed off streets with burning tyres in outrage at the government’s slow pace of reform.

The youth-dominated rallies demanding an overhaul of the ruling system have rocked Shiitemajority parts of Iraq since October, but had thinned out in recent weeks amid the geopolitical storm of rising Iran-US tensions.

On Sunday the anti-government protest movement was reignited with hundreds of angry young people descending on the main protest camp in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square as well as the nearby Tayaran Square.

Others burned tyres to block highways and bridges, turning back cars and leading to traffic jams across the city.

“This is only the first escalation,” one protester said.

“We want to send a message to the government: Stop procrastinating. The people know what you’re doing,” he said.

Security forces used tear gas to try to clear out the protesters, who responded by throwing rocks. At least ten people including police officers were wounded in the resulting skirmishes, a medical source said.

In the city of Najaf, youth lit tyres and began a sit-in on a main road leading to the capital. Rallies swelled in the cities of Diwaniyah, Kut, Amara and Nasiriyah, where most government offices, schools and universities have been shuttered for months. Protesters are demanding early elections based on a reformed voting law, a new prime minister to replace current caretaker premier Adel Abdel Mahdi and that officials deemed corrupt be held to account.