BAGHDAD: Calm prevailed in Iraq on Wednesday after a week of anti-government protests left more than 100 dead, prompting the United States to call on the country´s government to exercise "maximum restraint".
In Baghdad, the second most populous Arab capital, normal life has gradually resumed since Tuesday. Traffic has again clogged the main roads of the sprawling city of nine million inhabitants. Students have returned to schools, whose reopening was disrupted by the violence. On Tuesday, security restrictions were lifted around Baghdad´s Green Zone, where government offices and embassies are based.
Iraq descended into violence last week as protests that began with demands for an end to rampant corruption and chronic unemployment escalated with calls for a complete overhaul of the political system.
