Iraq’s battered tuk-tuks have long been a symbol of the country’s poverty, and the reputation of the men who typically drive them was that of an uneducated bunch of toughs working illegally, including without driver's licenses, and putting lives at risk. The ongoing anti-government protests have radically changed the image of the motorized rickshaws and their erratic drivers.

The tuk-tuk — a cheap, often disdained alternative to taxis — crept into international headlines by substituting for ambulances at protests and in the process turning their drivers into national heroes for risking their livelihoods and lives to shuttle wounded demonstrators to hospitals. On one occasion, on Oct. 30, a beaten up tuk-tuk served as a unofficial diplomatic vehicle, delivering UN special envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaer to the scene of a major protest in Baghdad.

Graffiti on a wall in the Iraqi capital underscores the role of the rickshaws in the protests that erupted last month, proclaiming, “It is a tuk-tuk revolution.”

A recent article in the Washington Post trumpeted, “Suddenly, there’s nothing cooler in Iraq than to be a tuk-tuk driver — one of the valiant and honorable men risking their lives as they whiz through tear gas and bullets to rescue injured protesters and ferry them free of charge to hospitals or ambulances that cannot reach the crowds.”