'Drop in the ocean'

 

Although Abdul Mahdi's resignation was welcomed by protesters in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, they said they will continue to demonstrate until they see a complete overhaul of the country's political system.

 

"The prime minister's resignation is only a drop in the ocean of our demands," said Dania, a 20-year-old IT student at Nahrayn Univeristy, who has been attending demonstrations since early October.

 

"We won't go back home until the PM's resignation triggers the parliament to be dissolved and early elections are held so that all the political parties and militias currently in power could be removed," she explained, adding that the process must begin with a new electoral law.

 

Driven by anger over corruption, high unemployment, inadequate public services and perceived foreign meddling in Iraqi affairs, demonstrators in Baghdad and several southern cities have been taking to the streets since early October 1, protesting against the country's ruling class and calling for the overhaul of the political system established after the 2003 US-led invasion, whereby power is apportioned among ethnic and sectarian groups.

 

Many Iraqis believe that this quota-based system allowed certain individuals and groups over years to enrich themselves and expand their influence, while much of the oil-rich country's population endured economic hardship.

 

According to the Iraqi Human Rights Commission, at least 430 people have been killed and 19,000 injured since the start of the unrest.

 

Separately, a court in Wisat province sentenced a police officer to death for his role in the killings of protesters, in the first such sentence since the beginning of the uprising. Another officer was sentenced to seven years over the deaths on November 2.

 

Later on Sunday, protesters set fire to the Iranian consulate in Najaf for the second time in a week, security sources and witnesses told Al Jazeera, rising anti-Iranian sentiment among demonstrators.

 

Fanar al-Haddad, research fellow at the Middle East Institute at the University of Singapore told Al Jazeera that "public sentiment has reached a point where it cannot be placated by piecemeal or cosmetic changes.

 

"If all that the political class can offer is a rearranged constellation of the same faces, there will be more public anger and a possible escalation of protests," he added.