Calm in Baghdad following bloody protests

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD (AA) - Calm returned to Baghdad's Sadr City district, a stronghold for influential Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, on Monday following bloody protests that left 8 dead and over 20 injured in the district, an Iraqi security source said.

"The security situation in Sadr City district is calm, the security forces have been deployed in the city to avoid incidents after yesterday protests," the security source told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Thousands are expected to join the funerals of the deceased in the district, and the "protests would not stop until those who ordered to open fire on the protesters are punished," according to a local activist.

The mass protests in Iraq broke out across several Iraqi cities with demands of improving living conditions and ending government corruption, but following the high death toll, protesters raised their demands and called for the departure of government after its security forces used live ammunition against peaceful protesters.

The death toll has reached 110 and thousands have been injured in anti-government protests in Iraq since Oct. 1, according to a medical source.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara