Iraq cuts internet again

A mounting death toll in Baghdad and across southern Iraq coupled with reimposed internet restrictions sparked concerns yesterday that anti-government protests would once again trigger chaos.

A first wave of protests that erupted on October 1 met with brutal violence, with at least 157 people killed over six days, most of them protesters in Baghdad, according to an official investigation.

Many were shot dead from rooftops by “unidentified snipers,” the probe found.

After a two-week lull, protests resumed but appeared to be less deadly, and the government eased the internet blackout to restrictions on social media sites only.

But late Sunday and early Monday, the bloodshed resumed with four protesters killed near the Iranian consulate in the Shia pilgrimage city of Karbala.

On Monday evening, security forces fired live ammunition at crowds in Baghdad for the first time since rallies resumed, leaving two people dead, medical sources said.

Two protesters were also shot dead in the southern city of Nasiriyah.

And yesterday morning, two protesters were killed when security forces attempted to break up crowds blocking the road to the southern port of Umm Qasr, the main entry point for imports of food and medicine.

The deaths brought the overall toll since October 1 to more than 270 killed, according to an AFP count. Officials have stopped providing running casualty figures.

Anger over chronic unemployment and widespread official corruption initially fuelled the protesters. But demonstrators have increasingly called for radical reform of the political system, and turned to strikes and sit-ins to press their demands.