BAGHDAD, Iraq - February 25, 2011 - Thousands marched on government buildings and clashed with security forces Friday in cities across Iraq in an outpouring of anger that left 11 people dead - the largest and most violent anti-government protests in the country since political unrest began spreading in the Arab world weeks ago.
In northern Iraqi cities, security forces trying to push back crowds opened fire, killing nine demonstrators, In the western Anbar province two people were shot and killed in a protest. In the capital of Baghdad, demonstrators knocked down blast walls, threw rocks and scuffled with club-wielding troops who chased them down the street.
The protests, billed as a "Day of Rage”, were fueled by anger over corruption, chronic unemployment and shoddy public services from the Shiite-dominated government. Shiite religious leaders discouraged people from taking part, greatly diminishing the Shiite participation and the overall size of the crowd in a country where such religious edicts hold great sway.
In the Sunni enclave of Azamiyah, one of the residents said that people there did not want to attend because they feared being labeled Saddamists. "The government has already convicted anyone who takes part in the demonstrations by accusing them of terrorism," said 41-year-old Ammar al-Azami.
A Shiite resident from the New Baghdad neighborhood of the capital, Khalil Ibrahim, 44, one of about 3,000 protesters in downtown Baghdad, railed against a government that locks itself in the highly fortified Green Zone, home to the Parliament and the U.S. Embassy, and is viewed by most of its citizens as more interested in personal gain than public service.
"We want a good life like human beings, not like animals," said Ibrahim.
