in anger over corruption and unemployment but have morphed into demands that the entire ruling system be upended.
They then spread to Al-Sinek, which ends near the Iranian embassy, and Al-Ahrar, near other government buildings. Around 120 people have died since protests resumed on October 24, according to an AFP count, as officials have stopped giving precise tolls in recent days. Protesters were being abducted by unidentified assailants as they returned from rallies in an attempt to intimidate them, security sources said.A female paramedic, Saba Mahdawi, has been missing since November 2 after being kidnapped near her home."Cutting the internet is a sign that there will be bloodshed," a government official told AFP.
A sit-in has shut the road to the Umm Qasr port, which brings in most of the country's food and medical imports through Basra, for days despite security forces' attempts to reopen it. But that suggestion appears to have angered Iranian officials trying to close rank around the current government.