Iraq protests threaten to upend government
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Iraq’s government is scrambling to contain a wave of unrest that has rocked Baghdad and a number of southern cities, as protesters demand jobs, better services and an end to corruption in the oil-rich country
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TIMELINE OF UNREST

Oct 1: Spontaneous protests erupt in Baghdad, later spreading to mainly Shia areas of southern Iraq. Unrest is biggest challenge to date for Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi (right), who took office in 2018 as consensus candidate of Shia parties
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Oct 4: Powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr (far right) calls on government to resign and for early elections as unrest intensifies
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Cities affected by protests

TURKEY
SYRIA
Mosul
Kirkuk
IRAN
Amara 
Diwaniya
Nasiriya 
Basra
KUWAIT
Baghdad
IRAQ
SAUDI ARABIA
JORDAN
Hilla

Iraq population divide
Sunni Kurd 
Sunni Arab 
Shia Arab

200km 125 miles
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Oct 5: Top UN official in Iraq denounces violence during protests that have killed almost 100 people 
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Oct 6: Government unveils social reforms
in bid to quell unrest, including paying out unemployment benefits and providing subsidised housing and land for low-income groups. Violence spreads to Baghdad’s volatile Sadr City suburb
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Oct 7: Abdul Mahdi orders army to withdraw from Sadr City, to be replaced by police. Iraq’s military admits using “excessive force” against demonstrators and says commanding officers will be held accountable
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Oct 8: Death toll from week of violence stands at 110, with more than 6,000 wounded – many of them struck by bullets
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Sources: Al Jazeera, BBC, GIS, Reuters, Stratfor
Pictures: AP, Getty Images © GRAPHIC NEWS