Thousands of Iraqi demonstrators defied on Friday a vehicle ban, protesting against over corruption, unemployment and poor public services.

Thousands of Iraqi demonstrators defied on Friday a vehicle ban, protesting against over corruption, unemployment and poor public services.

The protests come after nationwide protests in more than a dozen cities a week ago, which spurred Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to give his cabinet 100 days to shape up or face the sack.
A crowd of about 2,000 people had descended Baghdad's Tahrir Square by early afternoon, another 1,000 gathered in the southern city of Nasiriyah and about 300 were in the central city of Hilla.

In the capital, the protesters had been outnumbered by security forces as they walked along a street lined by humvees, and were frisked three times before reaching the square.
Similar demonstrations, also with several hundred protesters, were taking place in the holy city of Najaf and the port of Basra.

Vehicle curbs have been applied to all of Baghdad, with the capital's streets deserted but for a handful of cars attempting to evade checkpoints, and the centre of Basra.
Nasiriyah, in the south, barred anyone from entering.

Complete vehicle bans were also placed on every non-Kurdish province north of the capital, with protesters not even allowed near provincial governorate offices in the city of Mosul, after five demonstrators were killed and one building set ablaze in rallies there a week ago.