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‘Just Give Us a Country’: Thousands in Iraq Protest Corruption

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Mass protests in Iraq against government corruption turned violent, with reports of live fire killing two people. Between 100 and 200 demonstrators were being treated in Baghdad hospitals, according to the Ministry of Health.CreditCredit...Ahmad Al-Rubaye/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Falih Hassan and

BAGHDAD — Violent protests have erupted across much of Iraq as demonstrators poured into the streets, embittered about poor public services, corruption and unemployment.

By early Thursday, 14 people were confirmed dead by the Health Ministry and by hospitals: five in Baghdad and nine in Nasiriya, in southern Iraq. Hundreds of others were wounded, primarily by rubber bullets and tear gas, and in some cases by live ammunition.

The ministry said on Wednesday that 100 to 200 demonstrators were being treated for injuries at Baghdad hospitals. Counterterrorism police officers were deployed near the city’s airport to prevent protesters from storming it.

The situation remained tense overnight in Baghdad and in several southern provinces, as the government took strict measures to bring mass demonstrations under control: A curfew was imposed in the affected areas and the internet was shut down to make it more difficult for protesters to organize on social media.

Despite the measures, two rockets were fired early Thursday at the Green Zone, the heavily protected area that covers about four square miles of Baghdad, though there were no reports of injuries.

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A protest in Baghdad on Wednesday. The unrest amounted to the largest display of public anger at the government of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi since it took office a year ago.Credit...Khalid Al Mousily/Reuters

The unrest, now in its third day, amounted to the largest display of public anger at the government of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi since it took office a year ago.

Iraqis have held mass demonstrations for the last several years over a lack of basic services as well as government corruption. However, the demonstrations usually happen in summer, when electricity outages cause the greatest suffering from Iraq’s extreme heat, which routinely exceeds 115 degrees in the southern provinces.

The latest demonstrations, in much cooler temperatures, suggest the underlying grievances are as much about frustration with the government and unemployment as they are about the lack of services.

In Dhi Qar, a province in southern Iraq, where demonstrators briefly seized provincial government buildings, one demonstrator, Mushtaq Radhi Salih, said that all people wanted was to express their opinions and to end the government’s seeming disregard for their needs.

“There is corruption and for 14 years there has been no electricity and no services and no water,” he said.

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Tahrir Square, the chief gathering place used by Baghdad demonstrators on Tuesday, was mostly cordoned off on Wednesday by the police.Credit...Khalid Mohammed/Associated Press

“We do not want the political parties, we want nothing from them. Just give us a country, we just want a country to live in,” he beseeched anyone who would listen.

Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the chief gathering place used by demonstrators on Tuesday, was mostly cordoned off by the police on Wednesday.

The largest, most fervent and violent Baghdad protests on Wednesday were in the poor and working class neighborhoods of Sadr City and Al Amal City.

Mr. Mahdi convened a national security meeting after making a statement early Wednesday underscoring both his support for the protesters’ “legitimate concerns” and for the security forces who were trying to keep order.

He blamed “aggressive attackers” for turning the demonstrations into a face-off between security forces and protesters. And he accused violent demonstrators of attacking security forces with knives and hand grenades, saying that they “threaten the general order and civil peace.”

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Some protesters in Baghdad set fires and blocked roads.Credit...Hadi Mizban/Associated Press

After three demonstrators were killed on Tuesday by riot police officers who resorted to live fire, Mr. Mahdi ordered the security forces to refrain from the use of bullets. By nightfall on Wednesday, however, it seemed that some police officers may have ignored his instructions as more people were reported shot.

The protests have veered from furious attacks on government property to peaceful, even ecumenical, pleas for the government to respond to citizens’ needs. At dusk in Baghdad, some Sunni and Shia Muslims joined together in prayer.

Some demonstrators carried banners that seemed in keeping with Mr. Mahdi’s statement that both the police and the demonstrators were sons of Iraq. But some banners also appeared aimed at rallying the police to the side of the protesters.

One banner read: “Oh you soldier, do not open fire. I am your brother. Your mother and my mother cry the same tears. You fight for me and I demonstrate for you.”

In the central-southern city of Najaf, a man who worked as a government employee attributed the protests to “suffering from a shortage of everything.”

The police initially used tear gas and rubber bullets in Baghdad on Tuesday when the crowds began marching toward the international zone, which is the seat of government, but then officers resorted to live fire, killing three people. Many more were treated in Baghdad hospitals for injuries from rubber bullets and tear gas.

Falih Hassan reported from Baghdad, and Alissa J. Rubin from New York.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: Facing a ‘Shortage of Everything,’ Iraqis Protest Corruption. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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