'This must stop': UN denounces violence during anti-govt protest in Iraq

The United Nations on Saturday denounced the violence during protests in Iraq that have claimed the lives of at least 100 people across the country and have injured thousands.

"Five days of reported deaths and injuries; this must stop," Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the special representative of the UN secretary-general in Iraq, said in a post on Twitter.

"Those responsible for the violence should be held to account," she added.

Iraqis, mostly young, have taken the streets and are demonstrating against corruption, unemployment, and poor public services.

Security forces have responded using water cannon, tear gas, live rounds and rubber bullets.

The protests, which marked the largest to date against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's fragile government, were organised to decry a host of problems such as corruption, lack of services and unemployment.

Protests have been reported in the cities of Nasiriyah, Diwaniyah, and Basra. Many of the protesters in Baghdad held photographs of one of the country's most famous war heroes, Lt Gen Abdulwahab al-Saadi, a former head of Iraq's counterterrorism force who led the fight to defeat the Islamic State.

Meanwhile, Iraq's prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has called on the government to resign in the face of the ongoing protests and urged legislators to suspend their parliamentary membership and boycott sessions until the government responds to the protesters' demands.