Iraqis trudge to Tahrir for 'Day of Rage' (AFP)

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Protesters were forced to walk to central Baghdad for a "Day of Rage" on Friday as officials imposed a vehicle ban after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned the rally was organised by insurgents.

Despite the restrictions, around 2,000 demonstrators had gathered at Baghdad's Tahrir Square by 11:00 am (0800 GMT), with more on the way, while heavy restrictions were also placed on similar gatherings across the country.

Though most of the protests were largely peaceful, clashes between security forces and demonstrators at a rally in the northern town of Hawija turned violent, leaving two protesters dead and 20 other people wounded, police said.

"We don't want to change the government, because we elected them, but we want them to get to work!" said Darghan Adnan, a 24-year-old student at the capital's Tahrir Square.

"We want them to enforce justice, we want them to fix the roads, we want them to fix the electricity, we want them to fix the water."

Another protester, 33-year-old Ammar Raad, shouted: "Stop the words, we want action!"

Friday's rally, in keeping with similar protests across the region, has largely been organised on social networking website Facebook by groups such as "Iraqi Revolution of Rage" and "Change, Liberty and a Real Democracy."

Most of the protesters at the square, which shares the name of the central Cairo site where Egyptians rallied to overthrow president Hosni Mubarak, were young men, with some holding placards that read, "No silence, we must speak".

More were streaming into the area on the banks of the Tigris river, forced to walk after authorities belatedly imposed a vehicle ban on Baghdad and several other Iraqi cities.

"I came by foot from Sadr City (east Baghdad) -- it took me two hours, but I decided to come because I want the government to change the situation," said Shashef Shenshun, 48 years old and unemployed.

Opening his wallet to show he had only 2,000 Iraqi dinars -- less than $2 -- he said: "Do you think I can live with this money? I am jobless. I want work, I want for my children to go to school."

The vehicle ban was criticised by press watchdog Reporters Without Borders, which noted that the rules meant television channels would not be able to station their satellite trucks near the protests and thus not be able to carry live broadcasts of the demonstrations.

Similar curfews were also put in place in the central cities of Samarra, Tikrit and Baquba, and the western city of Ramadi.

Around 3,000 demonstrators had gathered in the port city of Basra, while hundreds chanted, "Liar, liar, Maliki!" in separate protests in the southern cities of Nasiriyah, Kut and Karbala.

The protesters in Nasiriyah also shouted, "What happened to the promises, what happened to the services, what happened to the jobs?" while demonstrators in Kut chanted, "Saddam, Saddam, Nuri al-Maliki!", a reference to Iraq's former dictator Saddam Hussein.

The rallies have united a disparate group of causes, from those railing against poor public services to others demanding broader political reforms, though demonstrators on Tahrir Square remained segregated into their own groups on Friday morning.

The demonstrations come a day after Maliki urged protesters not to participate, citing security concerns and claiming the protest's organisers were Saddam loyalists and Al-Qaeda insurgents.

"You can hold these demonstrations at any time or place you want, except for the place and time of a demonstration which Saddamists, terrorists and Al-Qaeda are behind," he said in a speech, insisting he was not preventing protesters from taking part.

Friday's protests, which have been scheduled for several weeks, have been billed by some as Iraq's own "Day of Rage," referring to similar ones in Egypt that eventually led to Mubarak's resignation.

But demonstrations in Iraq have been largely railing against poor public services and high levels of corruption and unemployment.

Along with being rated the fourth-most corrupt country in the world by Transparency International, Iraq also suffers from poor electricity and water provision. Also, unemployment remains high because the country's main income generator, oil production, is not labour intensive.

In a bid to head off the protests, Iraq has slashed politicians' pay, increased funds dedicated to food for the needy and delayed a planned law that would raise import tariffs and, thus, prices of goods in markets.