Iraq protests: Death toll rises to 93

Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Five Iraqis died in Saturday protests, raising the total death toll to 93 since the anti-government demonstrations began last week, a human rights commission said.

Ali al-Bayati, an Iraqi Independent High Commission for Human Rights member, told Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua that the overall death toll had risen to 93 people over four days of protests. Among the dead were security members.

He added that nearly 4,000 people, mostly protesters, were injured.

Iraqi News reported that al-Bayati said "at least 40 others were wounded" Saturday.

Protests heated up in Baghdad as demonstrators took to the streets for the fifth day despite authorities issuing curfews and blocking Internet access to try to curb the unrest.

Authorities lifted the daily curfew Saturday, inciting some smaller protest groups to start up again. The city's Tahrir Square was still blocked, local news agencies reported.

Demonstrators set fire to a political party's headquarters and provincial building, and security forces opened fire and used tear gas to disperse protesters across Baghdad. Violence occurred in other Shiite Muslim-majority areas to the south of the capital, including Amara, Nasiriya and Basra.

The protests have been fueled by anger over unemployment, government corruption and lack of public services.

The protests are the first major challenge to the authority of Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, who came to power nearly a year ago.

Mahdi said he would respond to protesters' demands, but there was no "magic solution" to problems. He added that security forces were following "international standards" for demonstrators.

Authorities have arrested more than 500 protesters with nearly 200 in custody, the human rights commission said.

On Tuesday, many chanted for the "fall of the regime," a popular slogan in 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

The death toll has risen from two people killed and more than 200 injured on the first day of protests. By Friday, at least 42 people were killed and hundreds more injured as Iraqi security forces used live ammunition, water cannons and tear gas on crowds.

The violence has sparked the United Nations and the United States to call for authorities restraint.