The death toll from days of violent demonstrations across Iraq surged to 44 on Friday, most of them killed in the last 24 hours, as unrest rapidly accelerated across the country despite a plea from the prime minister for calm.

In an overnight TV address, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said he understood the frustration of the public but there was no “magic solution” to Iraq's problems. He made reform pledges, but these drew a scornful response from demonstrators.

The violent demonstrations have escalated by the day since they first erupted on Tuesday, sweeping across the country spontaneously, without public backing from any organised political group and taking the authorities by surprised.

Security forces have fired live ammunition at crowds of mainly young men, and gunmen have occasionally fired back. Hundreds of people have been wounded, including members of the security forces as well as demonstrators.

Read: What is happening in Iraq?

Police and medical sources told Reuters the death toll of at least 44 included 18 people killed in the southern city of Nassiriya, 16 in the capital Baghdad, four in the southern city of Amara and four in Baquba, to the capital's north. Other deaths were reported in two other southern cities, Hilla and Najaf.

Curfews were imposed in a number of cities. Authorities shut roads into the capital from the north and northeast and were sending reinforcements to Baghdad's densely-populated east. Military convoys were being sent to Nassiriya, the city worst hit by the violence.

Protesters in Baghdad gathered in darkness by a bonfire set among the flaming wreckage of an armoured vehicle, across the Tigris River from the government compound.

“They are shooting live fire at the Iraqi people and the revolutionaries. We can cross the bridge and take them out of the Green Zone!” a man shouted to Reuters TV.

“Abdul Mahdi, they will cross the bridge. You better resign. Resign. The people demand the fall of the regime!” he shouted as the crowd behind him took up a chant that swept the Middle East during popular uprisings across the region in 2011: “The people demand the fall of the regime!”

Rage

The unrest, fuelled by popular rage over poor living standards and corruption, is Iraq's biggest security challenge since the defeat of the militant Islamic State group in 2017. It is also the first test for Abdul Mahdi, installed last year by Shia parties that have dominated Iraq since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein.

The unrest also comes on the eve of the Arbaeen Shia pilgrimage, which in recent years has drawn as many as 20 million worshippers, trekking for days on foot across southern Iraq in the world's biggest annual gathering, ten times the size of the Makkah Haj.

Pilgrims were already taking to the roads on Friday, although in what appeared to be smaller numbers than in recent years. Iran has closed one of the border crossings used by millions of pilgrims. Qatar has told its citizens to stay away.

The Iraqi capital was quieter early on Friday ahead of Muslim prayers, although police fired live ammunition again in the morning to disperse small crowds. An ongoing curfew, defied by thousands of demonstrators on Thursday, saw army and special forces deploy around central squares and streets.

Iraqis expect large protests to erupt later in the day, absent a meaningful response from politicians they accuse of holding back Iraq's recovery from years of conflict through corruption and neglect.

Abdul Mahdi acknowledged the public discontent in an overnight television message, insisting politicians were aware of the suffering of the masses: “We do not live in ivory towers — we walk among you in the streets of Baghdad,” he said.

He called for calm and for support from lawmakers to reshuffle cabinet posts away from the influence of big parties and groups. He said a basic wage for poor families would be discussed by the government, but that no “magic solutions” had been available to fix the country.

Other politicians were awaiting a pronouncement from Iraq's most senior Shia clergy, expected as part of Friday sermons.

The protests could grow if they receive formal backing from the opposition political bloc of firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has long denounced corruption and the political elite.

Windfall income

“We Sadrists support the protests by all means, but we would wait for orders from our leader Sayyed Moqtada before we would take to the streets,” a senior Sadrist politician, Awad Awadi, told Reuters.

“The protesters are all young men who have lost hope in the Abdul Mahdi government,” Awadi said. “This is a revolution of hunger. To accuse them of being a tool is a shameless lie.”

Ahmed al-Kinani, a lawmaker from a party linked to a powerful Iran-backed militia, said most of the protesters were simply demanding their rights, but a minority were using the demonstrations to target the security forces. His party was willing to do what it takes to calm the situation, including accepting a reshuffling of cabinet ministries.

Two years after the defeat of the Islamic State militant movement, Iraq has finally been at peace and free to trade for the first extended period since the 1970s. Oil production is at record levels providing windfall income for Baghdad. Yet after decades of war and sanctions, infrastructure is still decrepit, cities are in ruins and there are few employment opportunities for a population of 40 million.

Protesters say they funds are being siphoned off by political parties who have a firm grip on power in Baghdad.

They clashed with security forces in mass demonstrations that began in Baghdad on Tuesday and spread to cities in the southern Shia heartland. Hundreds of people have been wounded as security forces opened fire to disperse the crowds, and demonstrators in some areas have shot back.