Iraqi protesters cross bridge, approach government buildings

Anti-government protesters crossed a major bridge in central Baghdad on Monday, approaching the headquarters of state-run TV and coming to within 500 meters (yards) of the prime minister's office, as security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas, killing at least five protesters and wounding dozens.

An Associated Press reporter saw dozens of protesters racing through the streets carrying several wounded people. Some protesters hurled rocks at security forces, who responded with tear gas and fired a water cannon. As the protesters neared the government buildings, large numbers of security forces flooded into the area.

The protesters have been trying to breach barricades on bridges leading to the heavily fortified Green Zone, where the government is headquartered. Security forces have fired tear gas and rubber bullets to keep them away from barricades on the nearby Al-Joumhouriyah and Al-Sanak Bridges, but they appear to have broken through on the Al-Ahrar Bridge further north on the Tigris River.

The heavy clashes came a day after Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi called on the protesters to reopen streets and for life to return to normal. His office is just outside the Green Zone.

Police and hospital officials said at least five demonstrators and a member of the security forces were killed, and that another 60 people were wounded. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have demonstrated in central Baghdad and across mostly Shiite southern Iraq in recent days, calling for the overthrow of the political system. The protests are fueled by anger at widespread corruption, high unemployment and poor public services.

Security forces have killed more than 250 people in two waves of protests since early October.

Overnight, Iraqi security forces shot dead three protesters and wounded 19 when they dispersed a violent demonstration outside the Iranian Consulate in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, police officials said. Seven policemen were also wounded, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The protesters have increasingly directed their anger at Iran, which has close ties to the government, Shiite political factions and paramilitary groups.

On Sunday night, dozens of Iraqi protesters set tires ablaze in Karbala and attacked the Iranian Consulate, scaling the concrete barriers ringing the building as other lobbed firebombs over the walls. They tried to bring down the Iranian flag and replace it with the Iraqi one but could not reach it. They then placed an Iraqi flag on the wall around the consulate.

The protesters chanted "the people want the fall of the regime," one of the main slogans of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

Iraq's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on the consulate, saying the security of diplomatic missions was a "red line that should not be crossed."

Security forces have in recent days tried to keep protesters from crossing two main bridges to the Green Zone, but the protesters opened a new front Monday at the Al-Ahrar Bridge. In southern Iraq, protesters have attacked offices linked to Iran-backed political parties and militias, setting fire to some of them.

Over the last two days, protesters have blocked roads around the main protest site in Baghdad's Tahrir Square to raise pressure on the government.

They appeared to be borrowing a tactic from Lebanon, where similar anti-government demonstrations have been underway since Oct. 17, and where protesters have repeatedly blocked major roads in order to ramp up pressure on authorities.

Political leaders have expressed sympathy for the protesters' demands while condemning acts of violence on all sides and calling on the protesters to stop disrupting daily life.

Qais al-Khazali, the leader of one of Iraq's most powerful Iranian-backed Shiite militias, said in an interview aired on Iraqi TV that the U.S., Israel, some Arab Gulf nations and local officials are working to "incite strife and chaos" in Iraq.