Hundreds of Iraqis protested in Baghdad on Friday (July 2) over worsening power and water cuts as temperatures exceeded 50 degrees Celsius in some parts of Iraq.
At Friday prayer in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, men held a protest criticizing the government for not providing its citizens with enough electricity.
Power went out completely across most of the country's provinces before dawn, residents said, in some of the worst shortages this year. Some main grid electricity had returned to Baghdad by the afternoon.
Haider al-Saidi, a 52-year-old tribal leader, blamed the political class that has ruled Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, saying "it just goes from bad to worse".
Critics say the government, which relies on energy imports from Iran, has failed to develop Iraq's own grid to serve its population. Iraq's electricity minister resigned this week under pressure over the power crisis, local media reported.
Thirty-two year-old laborer Haider Hussein said protesters just wanted to see the power and water turned back on.
Power from Iraq's main grid suffers year-round from hours-long cuts each day, but the shortages worsen during the hot summer months when temperatures regularly reach 50 degrees and households rely on air conditioning.