As dusk fell in Baghdad, crowds swelled around the capital's oil and industry ministry, pledging to march to the capital's emblematic Tahrir (Liberation) Square. "We'll keep going until the government falls," pledged 22-year-old Ali, an unemployed university graduate. "I've got nothing but 250 lira (20 US cents) in my pocket while government officials have millions," he told AFP.
Most demonstrators carried the Iraqi tricolour while others brandished flags bearing the name of Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson and a revered figure in Shia Islam. Riot police and army troops fired at the ground from automatic weapons mounted on military vehicles, the bullets ricocheting into the crowd. Wounded protesters piled into small tuk-tuks to reach hospitals.
"Why do the police shoot at Iraqis like them? They suffer like us - they should help and protect us," said protester Abu Jaafar. The three days of demonstrations have left 28 people dead, including two police officers, and over 1,000 people have been wounded. More than half of those killed in the last three days have been in the southern city of Nasiriyah, where six protesters were shot dead and dozens wounded on Thursday alone.