Angry Iraqis protest against corruption, poor public services

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets on Friday in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and several other cities in south to protest against slack public services, power shortage, and massive corruption.

Young men, women and the elderly gathered in Tahrir Square, or Liberation Square, in central Baghdad raising Iraqi flags and anti-corruption banners, and urging to hold the corrupted accountable.

The protesters also cried out for the power outage in hot summer days. The Iraqis now can only have a few hours of electricity per day, while temperatures rises to over 50 degrees Celsius.

The demonstrators chanted "We got fed up with theft, we got fed up with lying," and "To whom we complain, they are all thieves," while others chanted "Friday after Friday, we'll eradicate corruption."

"We want the government to improve the public services. It is enough, after 12 years of the rule of the leading parties they failed to lead the state. We want better public services and to prosecute the thieves and corrupts," one protester said in Baghdad.

More demonstrations were seen in the southern cities of Basra, Nasriyah, Diwaniyahn and Amara as well as the southern central cities of Najaf, Karbala, Hilla and Kut.

Iraqi authorities tightened security measures in the cities where demonstrations occurred, as thousands of security members cordoned off Tahrir Square in Baghdad and blocked the roads leading to the square on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, forcing thousands of people and activists to walk several kilometers to reach the square.

For his part, Ahmed al-Safi, a representative of the most revered Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said in a sermon during the weekly Friday prayer in the holy city of Karbala, that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi "must be more daring and courageous in his reforms."

"The government should make important decisions and take strong measures to fight corruption and achieve social justice. He should identify who is hampering the reform, whoever they are," al-Safi said.

Shortly after the call of Sistani, Abadi reacted and promised to follow Sistani's advice, calling for the other political parties to positively contribute to his reform plans, which aim at fighting corruption.

"I announce my total commitment to the directions of the religious Marjaiya (Shiite religious leadership), which has voiced the concerns and aspirations of the Iraqi people," Abadi said in a statement issued by his office.

Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jubouri said in a televised speech that "the demands of the protesters are legitimate and cannot be ignored, and the corrupts who have squandered and stole the wealth of the country must be eliminated."

He also pledged that the parliament in the next session will discuss the demands of the demonstrators, and will implement these demands at specific time ceilings."

"The parliament will impeach any official that the demonstrators decide that he must be impeached, because the people are the source of authorities," Jubouri said.

Electricity supplies collapsed in the chaos after the U.S. invasion in 2003 when power plants were looted or not properly maintained. The infrastructure has also been repeatedly targeted by insurgents.

However, people believe that corruption and incompetence were the main reasons behind the failure rebuilding the power sector, as Iraqi officials said that more than 35 billion U.S. dollars have been spent during the 12 years after the U.S.-led invasion but the post-invasion government failed to rebuild the sector. Enditem