ANBAR: Tens of thousands blocked Iraq's main trade route to neighbouring Syria and Jordan in a fourth day of demonstrations on Wednesday against Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
The massive show of force marks an escalation in protests that erupted last week after troops detained the bodyguards of Finance Minister Rafaie Esawi, threatening to plunge Iraq deeper into political turmoil.
"The people want to bring down the regime," chanted thousands of protesters in the stronghold of Anbar, echoing the slogan used in popular revolts that ended in the toppling of the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
Waving the old flag of Iraq that was changed after Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein was overthrown by the US-led invasion of 2003, protesters sat in the road, choking off the main trade route between Iraq, Jordan and Syria.
Center>Copyright Reuters, 2012
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.