Death toll in Baghdad protests rises to 19.
Iraqi protesters are pressing on with angry anti-government rallies in the capital and across several provinces for a fifth day.The semiofficial Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights puts the death toll at 94.John Moore | Getty Images
The violent deadlock presented the conflict-scarred nation with its most serious challenge since the defeat of the Islamic State group two years ago and deepened the political crisis of a country still struggling with the legacy of multiple, unfinished wars since the U.S. invasion in 2003. Abdul-Mahdi said in an address to the nation that the protesters' "legitimate demands" had been heard, but he defended the deadly response of security forces as a "bitter medicine" that was necessary for the country to swallow.
Health and security officials said more than a dozen people were killed and about 40 wounded in the capital on Saturday when security forces opened fire during protests in various neighborhoods, including central Tahrir Square, which remained closed to cars, and around which special forces and army vehicles deployed in an operation that extended as far as 2 kilometers away.
Thousands of protesters also took to the streets in the southern cities of Nasiriyah and Diwaniyah, defying a curfew still in place there. In Diwaniyah, at least one protester was killed as demonstrators marched toward local government offices, a medical official and human rights official said. They did not provide details.
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