BAGHDAD, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of angry protesters took to the streets in Baghdad and southern Iraqi provinces demanding jobs and better basic services.
In the Iraqi capital, dozens of protesters raising Iraqi flags rallied in Tahrir Square in downtown Baghdad, demanding electricity, drinking water, health care services and jobs, in addition to the call for the accountability of corruption.
Iraqi security forces intensified presence at the scene while the riot police blocked the nearby bridge to prevent the demonstrators from crossing the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses the main government buildings and some foreign embassies.
Dozens of protesters tried to break the barrier of the riot police in an attempt to march to the Green Zone, but the riot police opened water cannons and used tear gas to disperse the crowd, who stoned the troops with bricks and water bottles.
There is no immediate report about casualties among the demonstrators and the security members.
In Iraq's southern province of Dhi Qar, hundreds of demonstrators led by some local tribal leaders rallied in Habboby Square in downtown of the provincial capital city of Nasiriya, some 375 km south of Bagdad, according to local media reports.
Dozens of the demonstrators tried to break into the house of the provincial governor in Nasiriya, but the security forces clashed with the protesters to prevent them from approaching the house, the reports said.
Other demonstrators set up sit-in tents in front of the provincial government building in protest against the deteriorated basic services, lack of jobs and widespread corruption, according to the reports.
Meanwhile, the demonstrations continued in the city of Amara, the capital of Maysan province, and the holy Shiite city of Karbala, some 110 km south of Baghdad, in addition to the provinces of Wasit, Muthanna, Najaf and Qadsiya, according to the reports.
The protests continued for almost two weeks despite a series of measures taken by the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi aimed at quelling the street anger.
The measures included allocating 3.5 trillion Iraqi dinars (about 2.9 billion U.S. dollars) to carry out several major projects for public services, such as electricity and water facilities, in addition to providing thousands of jobs in the government institutions.
Meanwhile, Abadi, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi forces, issued an order of high alert for the security forces in the central and southern provinces in response to the protests.
On Tuesday, Iraq said that 262 security members have been wounded during the protests in the country's central and southern provinces.
"We have a total of 262 security members wounded during the demonstrations, including six in critical conditions," said Yahya Rasoul, spokesperson of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command.
Rasoul accused some "infiltrators" in the peaceful protests of using "knives, batons, stones and live ammunition against security forces in charge of protecting the demonstrators."
According to the state-run Iraqiya channel, four demonstrators have been killed and about 140 others wounded since the start of protests in southern Iraq until July 15, citing reports from the Iraqi Health Ministry.
The demonstrators accused the influential political parties of being behind the widespread corruption that led to high rates of unemployment and failure in rehabilitation of the country's electricity, water and other basic services.
