- Title: Dozens killed as uprising grips Iraq
- Date: 4th October 2019
- Summary: PROTESTERS CHANTING [in Arabic]: "With our soul and blood we will sacrifice ourselves for Iraq" PROTESTERS MARCHING BLOCKED STREET, DEBRIS FROM PROTESTS PROTESTERS ON STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PROTESTER, NAME NOT PROVIDED, SAYING: "The parliamentary members have to resign today. Those who are with the people should resign. Those who are not supporting the people, it does not matter who they are. The government's legitimacy has fallen." INJURED MAN BEING BANDAGED (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PROTESTER, NAME NOT PROVIDED, SAYING: "Our cause is to depose this government and the parties. Who will depose them even if it is with our last breath?" VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CARRYING INJURED PROTESTER
- Embargoed: 18th October 2019 17:37
- Keywords: Iraq protests demonstration injured unrest civil unrest Middle East
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- City: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA002AZONY2V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC FOOTAGE
The death toll from days of violent demonstrations across Iraq surged to 44 on Friday (October 4), most of them killed in the last 24 hours, as unrest rapidly accelerated across the country despite a plea from the prime minister for calm.
On the streets of Baghdad, Reuters reporters saw one protester fall to the ground after being shot in the head. He was pronounced dead at hospital. Elsewhere, a Reuters television crew saw a man critically wounded by a gunshot to the neck after snipers on rooftops opened fire at a crowd.
The violence comes two years after Iraq put down the insurgency by the Sunni Muslim armed group Islamic State. The protests arose in the south, heartland of the Shi'ite majority, but has quickly spread, with no formal leadership from any organised political or sectarian movement.
Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi called for calm but protesters scorned his promises of political reform. The country's most influential cleric pinned the blame for the violence on politicians who had failed to improve the lives of the public, and ordered them to meet the protesters' demands.
Another politically powerful cleric pulled his opposition faction's lawmakers out of parliament, a gesture certain to fuel the passions behind the unrest.
(Production: Haider Khadem, Mostafa Salem) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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