BAGHDAD (AFP) – Thousands of protesters massed Friday in cities and towns across Iraq after streaming in on foot in defiance of vehicle bans for rallies over corruption, unemployment and poor public services.

The peaceful demonstrations came after deadly nationwide protests in more than a dozen cities a week ago spurred Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to give his cabinet 100 days to shape up or face the sack.

On Friday, a crowd of about 2,000 people descended on Baghdad's Tahrir Square, another 1,000 gathered in the southern city of Nasiriyah and about 300 in the central city of Hilla.

In the capital, the protesters -- mostly men in their 20s and 30s -- had been outnumbered by security forces as they walked along a street lined by humvees, and were frisked three times before reaching the square.

They chanted "Liar, Liar, Nuri al-Maliki" and "Oil for the people, not for the thieves," while carrying banners that read "Yes for democracy and the protection of freedom."

Riyadh Abdullah, a 39-year-old writer and activist, said he had walked for three hours to get to Tahrir Square from the city's western neighbourhood of Mansur.

"We are fighting for freedom and real democracy," he told AFP.

"Corruption is also a major problem. We live in a rich oil country like Iraq but you cannot find electricity, you cannot find clean water, there is no infrastructure," said Abdullah.

"Where are the billions going?" he asked.

Another demonstrator, 26-year-old doctor Mohammed Khalil, voiced similar grievances.

"What's wrong? Everything is wrong. Look at the roads, the services -- everything is miserable," he said.

Some protesters took pictures of themselves holding up sandals or their feet against a poster of MP Sabah al-Saadi, who had turned up to last week's Baghdad rally only to be jeered.

Similar demonstrations, also with several hundred protesters, took place in the holy city of Najaf and the port of Basra.

Vehicle curbs were applied to all of Baghdad, whose streets were deserted but for a handful of cars attempting to evade checkpoints, and the centre of Basra. Nasiriyah 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.

Some 400 people demonstrated outside the town hall in Dujail, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Baghdad.

But elsewhere in Salaheddin province, including in Samarra, security forces thwarted planned protests, according to an AFP reporter

And the Baghdad rally ended peacefully by mid-afternoon when the crowd frittered away, and security forces occupied the square.

Friday's rallies had been billed by organisers on the social networking website Facebook as a "Day of Regret", to mark one year since parliamentary elections.

It took politicians more than nine months to form a government after the poll on March 7, 2010, and even now several key positions remain unfilled such as the ministers of interior, defence and planning.

"People will continue demonstrating until there is reform because the government has been built on a sectarian basis," said Faisal Hamid, a pensioner who walked to Tahrir Square from the nearby neighbourhood of Karrada.

Demonstrations have been taking place in Iraq for the past month, with protesters decrying a lack of improvement in their daily lives, eight years after the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam.

The biggest such rallies took place last Friday, when Iraqis took to the streets of at least 17 cities and towns. A total of 16 people were killed and more than 130 wounded as a result of clashes on the day.

The rallies have led to the resignations of four top officials -- three southern provincial governors and Baghdad's mayor.

In response, Maliki told ministers they would be assessed on their performance in the coming 100 days, with "changes" being made based on whether or not they improved.

Source: AFP