Iraq: Protesters block roads in Baghdad with burning tyres and barbed wire
Roads are blocked in cities across the country as protests that have seen hundreds killed continue with a schools strike.
Sunday 3 November 2019 16:30, UK
Protesters in Iraq calling for the overhaul of the political system have borrowed a tactic from those who successfully forced the removal of Lebanon's prime minister.
Demonstrators in Baghdad blocked one road with burning tires and barbed wire, and held up a banner reading "roads closed by order of the people".
Other roads were closed by burning wood and other debris, bringing traffic to a standstill.
Similar methods have been used in Lebanon where anti-government protests have been underway since 17 October.
The tactics used by protesters in Beirut forced prime minister Saad Hariri to resign two weeks after they started.
Iraqi protester Tahseen Nasser, 25, told Saudi media group al Arabiya: "We decided to cut the roads as a message to the government that we will keep protesting until the corrupt people and thieves are kicked out and the regime falls.
"We're not allowing government workers to reach their offices, just those in humanitarian fields."
Thousands of people have come out to voice their support for the movement in Baghdad's Tahrir Square in the last few days.
There were calls for government workers to come out on strike across the country on Sunday - a normal working day in Iraq, and al Arabiya reported that schools and public institutions are remaining closed.
In the centres of the protests, in Baghdad and the southern and central cities of Basra, Nasiriyah, and Hillah, school staff defied a ministry of education demand and joined protesters in the streets.
Pictures taken on Sunday showed protests and road blocks also taking place in Umm Qasr and the southern city of Diwaniyah.
Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Hashim al Ani said the protests in Umm Qasr had stopped shipments of rice and food being taken from the port, al Hadeth reported.
In the capital, protesters have taken over a large tower in Tahrir Square that was abandoned after it was damaged in the 2003 US-led invasion.
Some of the protests appeared to be directed at Iran, which is allied to Shia militias that operate in the country.
More than 250 people have been killed so far in two waves of demonstrations since early October.
While the protests are mostly directed at political elites they pose a challenge for Iran, which has close ties to the government.
Iran has expressed support for some of the protesters' demands, but has also accused the US and other Western countries of manipulating the demonstrations to undermine their allies.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei attacked the US again, on Sunday, saying that his country had "trapped the other party in the corner of the ring in many cases," as US aggression toward Iran had grown "wilder and more flagrant".