- Title: Iraqi authorities lift Baghdad curfew; death toll rises to 72 in days of unrest
- Date: 5th October 2019
- Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (OCTOBER 5, 2019) (REUTERS) ARMOURED VEHICLES ON STANDBY WITH CARS DRIVING BY VARIOUS OF ARMOURED VEHICLES VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS SETTING UP BARRICADES VARIOUS OF ARMY SOLDIERS REMOVING DEBRIS VEHICLES DRIVING ALONG STREET POLICE VEHICLES PARKED ON STREET, POLICE STANDING BY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) BAGHDAD RESIDENT, OM ABDALLAH, SAYING: "They (the protesters) are not holding anything in their hands except for Iraqi flags. They are calling for the most basic of rights. Employment and services. All those beautiful youths who graduated from universities want employment and services. They need safety and an amnesty law that takes people out of the secret and public prisons. Iraq has become full of secret prisons. They are building prisons only. They are not building hospitals, schools." VEHICLES DRIVING ON BAGHDAD STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) BAGHDAD RESIDENT, WESSAM SAYED, SAYING: "It is relatively better now the curfew has been removed. I hope that decisions made by the head of parliament and the prime minister are applied on the ground because honestly the Iraqi people have become bored of all the promises and have what seems to be despair. We hope that these decisions are applied." TAHRIR SQUARE WITH VEHICLES DRIVING ALONG IT
- Embargoed: 19th October 2019 11:19
- Keywords: baghdad streets curfew lifted protests police barricades traffic tahrir square Iraq soldiers
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- City: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA001AZTK4EF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Iraqi authorities lifted a days-long curfew in Baghdad on Saturday (October 5) that anti-government protesters had defied, as the toll from four days of violent unrest rose to 72 killed and hundreds injured.
Traffic ran as normal through the Iraqi capital and streets with military vehicles parked nearby. Concrete barriers blocked off areas where protesters in their thousands clashed with police during the week.
Iraq's semi-official High Commission for Human Rights said security forces had detained hundreds of people for demonstrating but then let most of them go.
Police snipers shot at protesters on Friday (October 4), Reuters reporters said, escalating violent tactics used by the security forces that have included live fire, tear gas and water cannons.
The security forces have accused gunmen of hiding among demonstrators to shoot at police. Several policeman have died.
The protests over unfair distribution of jobs, lack of services and government corruption erupted on Tuesday in Baghdad and quickly spread to other Iraqi cities, mainly in the south.
It is the deadliest unrest Iraq has seen since the declared defeat of Islamic State in 2017 and has shaken the year-old government of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.
(Production: Maher Nazeh, Mostafa Salem, Louisa Naks) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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