BAGHDAD — Blood is still on the streets near the Ahrar Bridge in Baghdad. A Red Crescent worker explained that just two days before, Iraqi security forces shot a teen, just 16 or 17 years old, who was participating in the protests. Further down the street, a group of men said that the teen's death had been the first in several weeks since the protests began.

Protesters on social media aimed to get 1 million Iraqis to take to the streets Jan. 10, in a bid to prevent their demands from being forgotten. Slogans such as “the parliament does not represent us” and “take your wars out of Iraq” have largely supplanted earlier ones against corruption.

The daytime atmosphere in Tahrir Square was festive, as it has been for months, with free food and the mingling of the sexes, along with dancing, music and chants of "no to Iran, no to the US." Nights have been freezing cold in recent weeks, and protesters spending the night were fewer on this night than in previous months.

Ten minutes down the road, dozens of teenage males, mostly from Sadr City, climbed blast walls blocking a street near the Ahrar Bridge, still occupied by armed forces. The teens broke rocks and threw them at the forces in the early afternoon.