Thousands of Iraqi protesters occupied Baghdad’s central Tahrir square on Sunday, defying a bloody crackdown that killed scores over the weekend and an overnight raid by security forces seeking to disperse them.

Throughout the day security forces fired teargas at groups of young men wearing heavy duty gloves who rushed at the canisters and threw them back. Protesters also barricaded a bridge leading to the capital’s fortified Green Zone.

“We give you our life and blood, Iraq,” they chanted. Medical and security sources said 42 people were injured.

At least 69 Iraqis were killed on Friday and Saturday and hundreds wounded as demonstrators clashed with security forces and militia groups in this month’s second wave of protests against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government. About 226 people have been killed in October.

Despite the Opec member country’s vast oil wealth, many Iraqis live in poverty or have limited access to clean water, electricity, basic healthcare and education. Iraq is struggling to recover from years of conflict following the US-led invasion in 2003 that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein.

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Iraqis blame a political elite they say is subservient to one or other of Iraq‘s two main allies, the United States and Iran. Many suspect these powers use Iraq as a proxy to pursue their struggle for regional influence, without concern for the needs of ordinary people.

“I ask you Abdul Mahdi, it’s been 16 years and you’ve done nothing. We’re going from bad to worse,” said Ma’azir Yas, who had wrapped herself in an Iraqi flag. “This protest is peaceful and the young men only ask for their rights: jobs and services.”

Protesters were locked in a cycle on Sunday of advancing deeper into Tahrir square and towards the Green Zone which houses government buildings, then retreating when the barrage of teargas canisters became too much. The smell of the gas was potent in all corners of the square as security forces fired it indiscriminately and directly at protesters, not into the air.

Many used creative ways to defend themselves, including one protester who used a satellite dish as a shield. Some carried the wounds of earlier clashes with security forcers.

More women joined the protests on Sunday, from university and high school students to government employees and even old ladies in black abayas, the robe-like dresses worn by some women in parts of the Muslim world. Medical students formed small teams that treated the demonstrators, as tuk-tuks swarmed around carrying the badly injured to ambulances. Tents were erected from which food and masks were distributed.

Salem Abbas, a tall, burly 39-year-old teacher, said he had joined the protests because he was fed up with corruption and Iranian interference in Iraqi politics. “A pigsty is cleaner than those political parties supported by Iran,” he said. “They have looted the nation and destroyed a whole generation.”

Two older women dressed in black sat on the back of a pickup truck between two large pots of rice and beans, filling small plastic plates and urging protesters to come and eat. “We are here to support our children,” one of them said. “We saw the killing of those brave youths and we came here.”

Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service said on Sunday it had deployed in the streets of Baghdad to protect important state buildings “from undisciplined elements”.

Violence has flared in other areas across the south, with protesters storming and setting fire to party and militia offices, prompting authorities to impose curfews in some areas. Counter-terrorism forces beat and arrested dozens of protesters in the southern city of Nassiriya on Saturday night.

The unrest has broken nearly two years of relative stability in Iraq, which from 2003 to 2017 endured a foreign occupation, civil war and an Islamic State insurgency.

It poses the biggest challenge to Abdul Mahdi since he took office just a year ago. Despite promising reforms and ordering a broad cabinet reshuffle, he has so far struggled to address the protesters’ complaints.

Political alliances backing his fragile coalition government have begun to fracture, making his position precarious.