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Iraqi Protesters Seize Ground in Central Baghdad

VOA News

   Protesters pushed closer Saturday to a protected area in central
   Baghdad that houses parliament and several foreign embassies, officials
   said.

   Iraqi security and medical officials said protesters seized control of
   the strategicKhilaniSquare and part of a bridge that leads to the Green
   Zone security area that includes Baghdad's seat of government.

   Also,a protester was shot dead early Saturday in northwest
   Baghdad,security officials and activists told media outlets.The
   officials requestedto remain anonymousinaccordancewith regulations.

   A late Friday bomb blast at Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protest
   movement, killed at least three people and wounded 18 others, and
   another blast Friday night in the southern city ofNasiriyahwounded 18
   people.
   It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the explosions.
   The protests began in October because of growing frustration over a
   lack of jobs and public services. They appeared to wane at one point,
   but demonstrators have since demanded the ouster of Iraq's ruling class
   and government reform to root out corruption that deepened after the
   toppling of dictator Saddam Hussein in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in
   2003.
   More than 300 people have been killed in Baghdad and southern Iraq
   since the protests began.

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