Iraq protests: 21 dead as police fire live rounds and tear gas in fresh wave of unrest

Most deaths occurred after protesters hit in the face by tear gas canisters and rubber bullets, officials say

Security forces fire tear gas to disperse anti-government protesters in Baghdad (AP)

At least 21 people have been killed in Iraq as police fired live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas during a fresh wave of anti-government protests.

Dozens more were also injured as the demonstrations resumed on Friday after a three-week hiatus, security officials said.

Thousands of people began converging at Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square early in the day.

The demonstrators, mostly young, unemployed men, carried Iraqi flags and chanted anti-government protests, demanding jobs, water and electricity.

Security forces and government officials had vowed to avoid further deadly violence ahead of the protests and deployed heavily on the streets of Baghdad in anticipation.

However, soldiers fired tear gas to disperse the crowds after thousands of protesters removed metal security barriers and crossed a bridge leading to Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the US embassy and Iraqi government offices.

Live rounds were then fired to push the protesters back after they tried to remove concrete barriers near the entrance to the Green Zone.

Security and hospital officials said eight people were killed, five of them in Baghdad and three in the southern province of Nasiriyah.

They said most of the deaths occurred as protesters were struck in the face by tear gas canisters and rubber bullets.

Hundreds of people were taken to hospitals, many with shortness of breath from the tear gas.

Elsewhere on Friday at least 3,000 protesters broke into the provincial government building in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah and set it on fire, according to police sources.

Six protesters were wounded in the southern city of Amara in Maysan province, when guards protecting the local office of Shi’ite militia group Asaib Ahl al-Haq opened fired, two security sources said.

Protests also spread to the flashpoint city of Basra where about 4,000 people gathered near the provincial government building.

The protests began on 1 October over corruption, unemployment and a lack of basic services but quickly turned deadly as security forces cracked down, using live ammunition for days.

The unrest then spread to several, mainly Shiite-populated, southern provinces and authorities imposed a curfew and shut down the internet for days in an effort to quell the unrest.

After one week of violence in the capital and the country’s southern provinces, a government-appointed inquiry determined that security forces had used excessive force, killing 149 people and wounding more than 3,000.

It also recommended the firing of security chiefs in Baghdad and the south. Eight members of the security forces were also killed.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.