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Protests in Iraq Flare Up as Government Faces Mounting Pressure

VOA News

   Anti-government protestors rallied in Baghdad and in areas south of the
   capital Wednesday as the Iraqi government faces mounting pressure to
   respond to weeks of demonstrations.

   After easing for a few days following a crackdown by security forces in
   Baghdad and in major southern cities, the demonstrations flared
   Wednesday.

   As protestors threw tear gas cannisters back towards security forces in
   Baghdad, some 800 students returned to a camp in the southern city of
   Basra after being forced out by riot police.

   Iraq's parliament will meet later Wednesday to hear United Nations'
   mission in Iraq leader Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert brief lawmakers on
   political alliances and on her meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali
   Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite religious authority.

   Sistani supports a U.N. plan to resolve the crisis. It calls for an
   immediate end to the violence, electoral reform and anti-corruption
   measures followed by constitutional amendments and infrastructure
   legislation.

   Since the protests against political corruption, unemployment and poor
   public services began on October 1, at least 300 have been killed--
   mostly by security forces firing live ammunition into crowds.

   The violence, however, has done little to discourage protestors from
   taking to the streets of Iraq.