Iraqis gather in Baghdad to mark anti-government protests anniversary

A few hundred Iraqis gathered in Baghdad’s central Tahrir square on Thursday to mark the anniversary of anti-government unrest that erupted last year and to put pressure on the authorities to meet their demands.

Protesters waved the Iraqi flag and chanted “free revolutionaries, we will continue the path.”

Some sang patriotic songs while clapping.

Protesters, most of them young, are demanding an overhaul of a political system they see as profoundly corrupt and keeping most Iraqis in poverty.

The protests have shaken the country out of two years of relative calm following the defeat of Islamic State insurgents.