Protests enter fifth week in Iraq, two protesters killed

BAGHDAD, Nov 22 (KUNA) -- Two demonstrators were killed Friday during protests in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, which entered the fifth week, as other provinces witnessed sit-ins, bandits and the burning of a number of government buildings.
Eyewitnesses and medics told KUNA that two demonstrators were killed and more than 30 others were injured after renewed clashes between protesters and security forces erupted at Al-Rashid Street and near Al-Ahrar Bridge in Baghdad.
Security forces used live shots, rubber bullets, tear gas and sound bombs, they said.
Nearby Tahrir Square, where the center of protests and sit-ins took place this afternoon, tens of thousands of protesters came from the southern and central governorates, to organize millions of marches at the square, they added.
Activists in the Fadhliya district of the southern Dhi Qar province told KUNA that protesters blocked a main road today, prompting Human Rights Activist Haider Salman to resign in response to the demands of the demonstrators.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that protesters set fire to the Dhi Qar Police Directorate last night to protest against the meeting of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi with other officials.
In Basra, security forces dispersed the protesters at the port of Umm Qasr and arrested four of them, opening the road leading to it after it was cut for more than two days, but there was no government confirmation to resume work at the port so far.
The protesters continued their sit-in at the square in the center of Basra, the traditional center of popular protests since it erupted and blocked roads leading to it, the radio said.
The radio confirmed that the protesters continued to sit in front of the administration building at Safwan, south of Basra without a clash with Iraqi security forces.
Local television stations carried pictures of protests and sit-ins in the provinces of Diwaniya, Wasit, Missan, Karbala, Najaf and Babil, without mentioning clashes.
The protests began in Iraq on October 1 and then again on the 25th, which protestors are trying to overthrow the government and amend the constitution, leaving more than 320 people dead and thousands wounded. (end) ahh.lr