At least 105 killed in nationwide protests in Iraq

Updated October 8:  More than  hundred people have been killed so far in the protests in several Iraqi cities. The number of 105 was cited by the Iraqi Humna Rights Observatory. The army has admitted that it used ''excessive force;''. The Iraqi president, Barham Salih, condemned the attacks on portesteres (and the media) and urged the security forces to respect the rights of the protesters.
In Iraq the internet is still cut off. Prime minister Abdul Mahdi has ordered the military forces to be replaced by federal police units. Also he ordered the intelligence service to open an inquiry. (End of Update)
An indefinite curfew has been imposed October 2 in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and southern cities after two days of anti-government protests descended into violence and left at least 13 people dead and hundreds more injured. On Thursday morning, riot police fired in the air to disperse hundreds of protesters angry at high unemployment gathered at Tahrir Square in central Baghdad in defiance of the curfew.
"We slept here so the police don't take the place," one demonstrator told AFP news agency before being pushed back by the police.
Since erupting in Baghdad on Tuesday, the protests have spread to other cities in the country's south, posing a challenge to Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's one-year-old government. Curfews were also imposed in the holy city of Najaf and in Nassiriyah on Wednesday after security forces fired on protesters who demand end to rampant power cuts, water shortages and state corruption.
Anger over staggering rates of youth unemployment, which is around 25 percent or double the adult rate according to the World Bank, appears to have set off the latest round of demonstrations."We want jobs and better public services. We've been demanding them for years and the government has never responded," said Abdallah Walid, a 27-year-old protester.
The southern city of Nasriya, which has seen so far the deadliest protests with a total of eight protesters and one police officer killed. More than 400 others have been wounded in the nationwide protests.
All vehicles and individuals are totally forbidden to move in Baghdad as of 5am today, Thursday, and until further notice," Abdul Mahdi said on Thursday in a statement. Travellers to and from Baghdad airport, ambulances, government employees in hospitals, electricity and water departments, and religious pilgrims are exempt from the curfew, the statement said.
Demonstrations over similar issues engulfed the southern city of Basra last summer and effectively ended previous premier Haider al-Abadi's chances of a second term. Abdel Mahdi now faces a similar challenge just weeks before his government marks a full year in power.