‘We don’t want this government anymore. It has to go,’ Baghdad tuk-tuk driver says amid protests
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As anti-government protests continue in Iraq, demonstrators have once again set up barricades across key roads and bridges in the capital Baghdad and across the south just as a general strike brought parts of the country to a standstill. Demonstrators say they are fighting for an end to corruption and improved living standards in the oil-rich country. FRANCE 24 met with tuk-tuk driver Khadum, a Baghdad father of five who feels the time has come for change. Driving one of the colourful minicabs that have become icons of these protests, Khadum makes around 12,000 dinars a day, or roughly €10, barely enough to survive. He lives with his family in one of Northern Baghdad’s informal neighbourhoods, which are bereft of services. “I’ve been coming here for 22 days,” Khadum says at Tahrir Square, the protesters’ main camp in the Iraqi capital. “I help the protesters. I transport the wounded, food… They are my brothers. I want to help them,” he explains. FRANCE 24's James André, Amar al-Hameedawi and Jonathan Walsh report from Baghdad.