Baghdad
Clashes between police and protesters killed five people in Baghdad on Saturday in a resumption of anti-government unrest, as security forces deployed in their hundreds to keep demonstrations away from central squares in the Iraqi capital.
Police and medical sources reported the casualties after days of violence around anti-government protests that killed at least 81 people in Baghdad and other cities earlier this week.
Iraq’s semi-official High Commission for Human Rights put the toll at 94 dead. Reuters could not verify its figures. Police snipers shot at demonstrators and several people were wounded in eastern Baghdad, Reuters reporters said. Police also fired live rounds at demonstrators in the southern city of Nassiriya, where at least 18 people were killed during the week.
The new clashes shattered a day of relative calm after authorities lifted a curfew and traffic moved normally in the centre of the city. One square where protesters had gathered in their hundreds in previous was packed with hundreds of policemen and other security personnel.—Reuters
