BAGHDAD: Seven
protesters were killed yesterday in Iraq as security forces cleared protest
sites in Baghdad and Basra after political leaders agreed to stand by the
embattled government by any means. The leaders, sources told AFP, also agreed
to put an end to rallies rocking Iraq's capital and its south since Oct 1 and
demanding an overhaul of the political system. The crackdown began in the
morning when security forces wrested back control from demonstrators of three
bridges spanning the River Tigris in the heart of Baghdad.

Iraqi forces then
moved towards Tahrir (Liberation) Square, ground zero for the month-long
movement demanding regime change, firing live rounds and tear gas. Three
demonstrators died from bullet wounds and a fourth when a tear gas canister
pierced his skull, medics and police sources told AFP. "The security
forces are getting closer to us, but the protesters are trying to hold them off
by burning tires," a doctor in Tahrir told AFP. "We can hear live
fire now and there are so many wounded."

Three protesters
were killed and dozens wounded in the southern city of Basra, medical sources
said, as security forces cleared a protest camp outside the provincial
government headquarters. Security forces also rounded up demonstrators in
Basra. And in the revered Shiite holy city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, the
tents of protesters were reduced to ashes when security forces fired searing
hot tear gas canisters at them.

'Any means possible'

The bloodshed
came after political leaders agreed to rally around Prime Minister Adel Abdel
Mahdi, whose embattled government was threatened by the largest and deadliest
grassroots protests in Iraq in decades. Abdel Mahdi, 77, came to power last
year through a shaky alliance between populist cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr and Hadi
Al-Ameri, a leader of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network.

When the protests
first erupted in October, Sadr threw his weight behind them while the Hashed
backed the government. But they closed rank around the premier this week after
a series of meetings led by Major General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard's foreign operations arm. Soleimani, who often
plays a mediating role during times of crisis in Iraq, met Sadr and persuaded
him to return to the fold, said a source present at the meetings. "Those
meetings resulted in an agreement that Abdel Mahdi would remain in
office," the source said.

Sadr has since
gone silent amid reports he is in Iran. The source also told AFP Soleimani met
Mohammed Ridha Sistani, the son of Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah
Ali Sistani. But on Saturday Sistani's office issued a statement denying that
cleric "was part of a deal for the current government to stay and the
protests to end". Another source said political factions agreed this week
to move forward on reforms and constitutional amendments if the premier and
government stayed in place. "They agreed to end the protests with any
means possible and to reopen the bridges and shuttered streets," said a
senior member of a party represented at the gathering.

Abdel Mahdi met
President Barham Saleh yesterday for the first time in days. Government sources
had told AFP ties between them had been cut after Saleh proposed the premier be
replaced. And yesterday, parliament convened to discuss reform proposals,
including hiring drives and increased welfare payouts.

* Protesters
despair -

Meanwhile, the
streets around Tahrir were in chaos. "The security forces told us the
protests are over and everyone should go home," one protester shouted.
"But we put up more barricades so they won't enter Tahrir. Tomorrow, no
one goes to work." Protesters are now on the back foot but still occupy
part of Al-Jumhuriyah (Republic) Bridge, the closest to Tahrir. "Our
situation as protesters is not good, but we'll stay until we find a
solution," said another protester.

Oil-rich Iraq is
OPEC's second biggest producer, but one in five people live in poverty and
youth unemployment stands at 25 percent, the World Bank says. Those staggering
rates sparked the first wave of protests on Oct 1, and public anger quickly
spiralled into calls for the overhaul of the entire ruling system. Protesters
say the current framework allows political parties to dole out government jobs
based on affiliation and bribes, choking out independents in a country with a
weak private sector. They are demanding profound reform and constitutional
amendments. Around 300 people have been killed in the protests, according to
toll compiled by AFP. The government has stopped issuing figures. - AFP