After 50 injuries, Protestors keep flocking the streets of Baghdad

Shafaq News/ Hundreds of demonstrators stormed the streets in Al-Tahrir Square in central Baghdad on Saturday to mark the third anniversary of the October 2019 demonstrations.

Shafaq News Agency correspondent said that other protestors, who refused the participation of the Sadrist in their move, flocked Al-Nusur square.

He also reported that the security forces fired smoke bombs to keep the demonstrators away from the Jumhuriya Bridge, which links Al-Tahrir Square and the heavily-fortified Green Zone.

Earlier today, scuffles broke out between protesters and security forces, leaving dozens injured.

The latest protests in Baghdad come as Iraq has slipped into political paralysis since elections last October that failed to produce a new president, prime minister, and government.

Many waved portraits of the "martyrs" killed in the wave of protests three years ago.

The demonstrations aim to revive the unprecedented protests of October 2019, which condemned the country's rampant unemployment and decaying infrastructure.

The protesters rallied at Al-Jumhuriya Bridge tried to scale a series of barriers erected by security forces to block access to the Green Zone, home to government buildings and diplomatic missions.

According to an Interior Ministry official, they threw the iron barriers into the river, who reported 18 minor injuries suffered by riot police from stones and glass bottles thrown at them.

Police retaliated by throwing smoke grenades at the crowd to disperse them.

"At least 50 protesters were injured." a source told Shafaq News Agency, "including 34 security officers and 27 demonstrators."

The source pointed out that the injuries were caused due to suffocation, rubber bullets, and tear gas bombs.