Maliki urges Iraqis not to attend "Saddamist" demos

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on Iraqis not to participate in massive planned demonstrations in Baghdad on Friday, describing their organizers as insurgents and loyalists of Saddam Hussein.

A wave of uprisings across the Arab world have inspired Iraqi youth to plug into social media and organize their own "day of rage" on Friday against poor basic services in Iraq, referring to similar such protests in Egypt that eventually led to the stepping down of strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Thousands of Iraqis are expected to take part in the demonstration, organized mainly through social networking site Facebook, after weeks of scattered protests around the country calling for an end to shortages of jobs, food, power and water.

Maliki's remarks were markedly stronger than warnings issued by Iraqi security officials, who have claimed that the protests would be infiltrated by insurgents bent on wreaking havoc.

"I call upon you ... not to participate in tomorrow's demonstration," Maliki said in Baghdad on Thursday.

He insisted he was not preventing protesters from taking part in the rally, but cited security concerns and claimed that the protest's organizers were tied to the regime of ex-dictator Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda insurgents.

"You can hold these demonstrations at any time or place you want, except for the place and time of a demonstration which Saddamists, terrorists and al-Qaeda are behind," he said.

Maliki added: "Based on information we have, there are known factions ... trying to jump on these legal demands and turn them in another direction that we certainly do not want."

Along with being rated the fourth-most corrupt country in the world by Transparency International, Iraq also suffers from poor electricity and water provision and unemployment remains high as the country's main income generator, oil production, is not labor intensive.

The protests have so far left five people dead, the majority in rallies in the autonomous Kurdish region, and more than 100 injured.

Maliki's remarks were stronger than those of Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim Atta, who said on Tuesday that officials were wary of the protests being infiltrated by insurgents.

Protest organizers disputed Maliki's characterization of their aims, and said their demonstration would go ahead regardless.

"None of us are al-Qaeda or Saddamists," Shuruq al-Abayachi, the director of the Iraqi Women's Center and one of the protest's organizers, told AFP following the speech.

"All of us are nationalists calling for services, an end to corruption and for reforms to the political system."

Friday's rally, in keeping with similar protests across the region, has largely been organized on social networking website Facebook by groups such as "Iraqi Revolution of Rage" and "Change, Liberty and a Real Democracy."

Iraq's top Shiite religious cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has expressed his "sympathy for the legitimate demands" of the demonstrators, but added he was fearful of their rally being exploited by "private agendas."

In a bid to head off the protests, Iraqi authorities have decided to slash politicians' salaries, increase funds dedicated to food for the needy, and have delayed a planned law that would raise import tariffs and, thus, prices of goods in markets.