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         Iraqi Protesters Ignore Government, Take to Baghdad's Streets

   by Sharon Behn

   Thousands of anti-government protesters, many carrying flowers and
   olive branches, walked for kilometers Friday to converge on the Iraqi
   capital's Tahrir Square to call for political change.

   "They are coming like ants," said a police officer who declined to give
   his name. "They are coming from Najaf, Karbala and Baghdad."  Najaf and
   Karbala are two Shi'ite cities south of the capital.

   Iraqi forces were out in force in the blistering heat -- it was over 40
   degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in Baghdad -- and concrete
   barriers and razor wire blocked many streets leading toward the square.

   Small buses inside the security cordon ferried protesters to the
   square's entrance. A little while later, ambulances were screaming down
   the same road in the opposite direction, carrying injured
   demonstrators.

   By late afternoon, clouds of tear gas were drifting out of Tahrir
   Square. Shots were fired into the air as demonstrators pushed past the
   security forces; the crowd tried to pull down concrete walls blocking a
   bridge from the square to Baghdad's International Zone, home to key
   government buildings and foreign embassies.

   A similar protest one week ago dissolved into a riot that left four
   people dead after protesters forced their way into the zone and stormed
   the prime minister's offices.

   ''Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had called for Friday's march to be
   canceled to ease the pressure on Iraqi security forces, who already are
   taking part in an offensive against Islamic State extremists in
   Fallujah.

   But few protesters were listening.

   "We want our rights," demanded a group of women carrying olive
   branches. "We give them olive branches, they give us bombs," one veiled
   woman added.

   Many protesters said they were angry about a recent wave of bombings in
   Baghdad -- attacks that killed more than 100 people -- and what they
   feel is the government's inability to protect them.

   On Sunday night, the embattled prime minister announced the start of
   the fight to retake Fallujah, a Sunni stronghold that has been under IS
   control for more than two years.

   Iraqi soldiers, Sunni militants and Shia militias, supported by U.S.
   coalition airstrikes, are attacking the city from different directions.

   Humanitarian agencies are warning that thousands of civilians are
   trapped in the city and are being used as human shields by the
   extremists.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/iraqi-protesters-ignore-government-fi
   ll-baghdad-streets/3349331.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/iraqi-protesters-ignore-government-fill-baghdad-streets/3349331.html