The Iraqi street. Celebrations, resignations and bloodshed continue.

The Iraqi street. Celebrations, resignations and bloodshed continue.

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Demonstrations continue in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities

Sky News Arabia - Abu Dhabi
At least 15 protesters were killed and 157 injured in clashes with security forces in the southern province of Dhi Qar, Iraqi medical sources said Friday.

Friday saw bloody events in Iraq, where 7 protesters were also killed and 42 injured in the southern province of Najaf.

The police chief of Dhi Qar and the Deputy Governor of Najaf resigned because of the protests.

Iraqis had gone out to celebrate in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, following iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's decision to resign to parliament, and protesters said his decision did not meet all their demands, but the first.

Sadrist leader Moqtada al-Sadr has suggested a referendum on five candidates to choose a prime minister.

Abdul Mahdi announced his intention to resign in a statement, hours after Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani condemned the use of lethal force against protesters and urged lawmakers to reconsider their support for the government.

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In his resignation statement, Abdul Mahdi said: "I listened very carefully to the sermon of the supreme religious authority. In response to this call, and to facilitate and speed up its completion as soon as possible, I will submit to the House of Representatives the official letter requesting the resignation of the current prime minister."

In his statement, Abdul Mahdi noted that "this option (resignation) has already been put forward publicly and in official memorandums, in the interest sought by the people and the country."

Sistani's speech, made by his representative in his friday sermon on television, was interpreted as instructing parliamentarians to seek change in the government, as the spiral of violence in the country widened.

A representative of Sistani said: "Given the difficult circumstances that the country is going through, and the apparent inability of the concerned parties to deal with the latest developments in the last two months, the House of Representatives from which the current government emerged is called upon to reconsider its options in this regard and to act in the interest sought by Iraq."

For the first time in Anbar and Salah al-Din provinces, evening demonstrations in support of the protesters' demands took place in the central and southern cities, where hundreds of residents of the city's central city of Fallujah gathered to pay tribute to the victims of Najaf and Dhi Qar, turning the solidarity rally into a popular demonstration in support of the sit-in sit-in.

On Saturday, a calm atmosphere of calm prevailed in The Qar and Najaf provinces, while demonstrators continued to cut off the three main bridges in Dhi Qar, demanding that the provincial police command hand over the killers.

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