Seven killed on Iraq 'Day of Rage'

Angry protesters hurled stones in Baghdad on Friday as thousands of demonstrators flooded streets across Iraq for a "Day of Rage" that left seven people dead in clashes with police. Around 5,000 demonstrators gathered at Baghdad's Tahrir Square, crowds of them angrily throwing stones, shoes and plastic bottles at riot police and soldiers blocking off Jumhuriyah bridge, an AFP journalist said. Demonstrators overturned two concrete blast walls, which had been erected to seal off access to Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone, home to the US embassy and parliament, the journalist added. Security was deployed in force, imposing a city-wide vehicle ban after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki claimed Al-Qaeda insurgents and loyalists of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein organised the demonstrations. Troops also brought out water cannons, but had yet to use them. Rallies in Iraq have called for improved public services, more jobs and less corruption, and some for broader political reforms. Rated the fourth-most corrupt country in the world by Transparency International, Iraq suffers from poor electricity and water provision, as well as high unemployment nearly eight years since the 2003 US-led invasion. MP Sabah al-Saadi, who turned up at the Baghdad protest, was met with shouts and jeers, with one protesters asking: "Why are MPs taking millions of dinars (thousands of dollars) in salaries?" "You have to cut your salary - we have nothing! Why are you taking so much money when we have no money?" Friday's rally, in keeping with similar protests across the region, has largely been organised on social networking website Facebook by groups such as "Iraqi Revolution of Rage" and "Change, Liberty and a Real Democracy." Mostly young men gathered in Tahrir square, which shares the name of the square in Cairo where Egyptians rallied to overthrow president Hosni Mubarak. Protesters held up placards that read, "No silence, we must speak". "We don't want to change the government, because we elected them, but we want them to get to work!" said Darghan Adnan, a 24-year-old student. "We want them to enforce justice. We want them to fix the roads. We want them to fix the electricity. We want them to fix the water." Shashef Shenshun, 48, said he walked two hours from the eastern Baghdad slum of Sadr City "because I want the government to change the situation." "I am jobless. I want work, I want for my children to go to school." Press watchdog Reporters Without Borders criticised the vehicle ban, saying television channels would not be able to park their satellite trucks near the protests and thus were unable to broadcast live. Similar curfews were slapped on the central cities of Samarra, Tikrit and Baquba, and the western city of Ramadi - all places that endured some of the worst violence after the 2003 US invasion ousted Saddam. In the north, clashes between security forces and demonstrators in the city of Mosul and town of Hawija left seven dead and dozens wounded. Protesters set fire to provincial government offices in Mosul and the city council building in Hawija. Eight other people were injured elsewhere in the north and west. In the port city of Basra, the provincial governor resigned after 3,000 protesters gathered. Soldiers and police fired into the air to disperse the rally. No injuries were reported. Crowds chanted, "Liar, liar, Maliki!" in the southern cities of Nasiriyah, Karbala and Kut, where security forces arrested 14 demonstrators. A government official told AFP on condition of anonymity that Maliki in fact fired Basra's governor over recent protests, and asked the governor of Mosul's Nineveh province to step down, though the latter had yet to do so. Maliki had urged protesters to stay at home, citing security concerns and claiming the organisers were Saddam loyalists and Al-Qaeda insurgents. Friday's protests have been billed as Iraq's "Day of Rage," in reference to events in Egypt that forced Mubarak's resignation. In a bid to head off protests, Iraq slashed politicians' pay, increased food funds for the needy and delayed a planned law that would raise import tariffs and, thus, prices of goods in markets.