This archive report was first published on 27 November 2019.
At least 350 people have lost their lives and over 15,000 have been injured in Iraq's ongoing protests since early October, marking the country's largest wave of unrest since the 2003 US-led invasion.
Violence escalated in the southern holy city of Karbala on Tuesday, with one protester killed as riot police fired live rounds into the air and directly into crowds of teenagers pelting them with rocks.
As a precautionary measure, Karbala's religious authorities ordered the closure of private schools in the city, as well as in nearby Babylon and Najaf, for two days starting Wednesday.
Thick columns of black smoke still rose from Karbala, a city visited by millions of Shiite pilgrims annually, as demonstrators torched tyres around and inside the city.
Local authorities in Nasiriyah, further south, ordered all public offices closed for two days, although they had been largely shut already by ongoing sit-ins and marches.
Security forces began using tear gas against protesters in Al-Hillah, just south of Baghdad, resulting in another 100 injuries over two days of rallies.
Activists in Diwaniyah, Kut, and Najaf cut roads with flaming tyres to prevent government employees from reaching their offices, while picketers outside Basra sealed off the entrance to the Nasiriyah oil field, a contributor to Iraq's exports of 3.6 million bpd.
The oil industry has so far remained relatively insulated from the widespread protests, with oil exports funding over 90 percent of the government's budget.
Clashes between security forces and young demonstrators in central Baghdad resulted in at least one protester's death, with the historic Rasheed Street and nearby colonnaded alleys becoming a major flashpoint.
Late Tuesday, Baghdad was rocked by three explosions that went off just after Iraqis celebrated a football win against Qatar in the Gulf Cup, killing six people in Shiite neighbourhoods.
