Calm has been restored after a protest in Baghdad's heavily armed fortified Green Zone turned violent.
At least four people were killed and 90 injured among mainly Shia
Muslim crowds as they protested against corruption, hospital sources
said on Saturday.
Iraqi security forces used live and rubber bullets as well as tear
gas to dislodge the protesters from the district that houses government
buildings, parliament and embassies.
The toll, compiled from four hospitals where casualties were taken as
well as Baghdad's central morgue, accounts for bullet wounds only, not
cases of suffocation caused by tear gas.
The disturbance was the second breach of the Green Zone in less than a month.
Protesters included supporters of powerful Shi'ite Muslim cleric
Moqtada al-Sadr and people from other groups upset with the government's
failure to approve anti-corruption reforms and improve security against
bombings by Islamic State militants.
The government briefly imposed a curfew on Baghdad on Friday and
authorities later said that order had returned after what they called
rioting at the Green Zone.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, in a late-night speech, condemned the
Green Zone breach and warned against chaos and strife: "The law must
take its course with every transgressor."
Sadr expressed support for what he called a "peaceful spontaneous
revolt" and condemned the government for "killing its children in cold
blood".
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