BAGHDAD: Six protesters were killed by security forces who fired live rounds in Baghdad and southern Iraq amid ongoing violence and days of sit-ins and road closures, Iraqi officials said on Wednesday.

Two protesters were killed and 35 wounded when security forces fired live rounds to disperse them from Baghdad’s historic Rasheed Street, security and hospital officials said.

The street, which is adjacent to the strategic Ahrar bridge, has been the focus of violence for a full week, with near daily incidents of deaths as a result of security forces using live ammunition and tear gas to repel demonstrators from advancing beyond a concrete barrier.

Demonstrations have raged in Baghdad and across southern Iraq since Oct 1. The protesters accuse the government of being hopelessly corrupt and complain of poor public services and high unemployment. At least 350 people have been killed and thousands wounded in what has become the largest grassroots protest movement in Iraq’s modern history.

Protesters are occupying three key bridges in central Baghdad — Jumhuriya, Ahrar and Sinar — in a standoff with security forces. On Wednesday, they also burned tires on Ahrar Bridge to block security forces from accessing the area.

In Karbala, four protesters were killed by live fire from security forces in the previous 24 hours.

Three of the anti-government protesters were killed when security forces fired live rounds to disperse crowds in the holy city of Karbala late Tuesday, security and medical officials said. One protester died of wounds suffered when a tear gas canister struck him in clashes earlier in the day.

Three simultaneous explosions rocked Baghdad late on Tuesday, killing five people and wounding more than a dozen, Iraqi officials said, in the first apparent coordinated attack since anti-government protests erupted. The bombings took place far from Baghdads Tahrir Square, the epicenter of weeks of anti-government protests that have posed the biggest security challenge to Iraq since the defeat of the militant Islamic State group.

Roads between Karbala and Baghdad were blocked by protesters on Wednesday. Demonstrators have burned tires and cut access to main roads in several southern provinces in recent days.

In the southern city of Basra, protesters continued to cut major roads to the main Gulf commodities ports in Umm Qasr and Khor al-Zubair, reducing trade activity by 50 percent.

Protesters also blocked roads leading to major oil fields in West Qurna and Rumaila. A senior oil ministry official said crude production was not impacted by the closures.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2019