Protests turned violent in Baghdad and political factions have been unable to reach consensus on a candidate to replace caretaker Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who resigned under pressure from protesters.
ROADS WERE BLOCKED
Iraqi security forces killed at least one protester and wounded 25 others on Friday when they launched tear gas canisters to break up a crowd trying to breach Baghdad’s Sinak bridge, security and medical sources said.
The bridge is close to the capital’s central Tahrir Square where thousands have been camped out for months, with recent clashes causing the authorities to restrict access to the crossing. The protester died after a tear gas canister was launched directly at his neck, the medical sources said.
Iraqi demonstrators and tuk-tuk drivers are seen during ongoing anti-government protests
“Saboteurs attacked the barricades in the Sinak bridge area and security forces have been using non-lethal methods to stop them for hours,” said a spokesman for the prime minister.
Mass protests have gripped Iraq since October 1 and protesters, most of them young, are demanding an overhaul of a political system they see as profoundly corrupt and keeping most Iraqis in poverty. More than 450 people have been killed.