Baghdad ( CNN ) -- Hundreds of demonstrators were in the streets Thursday in locales around Iraq , inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the region as they railed against the government 's inability to provide basic services and complained of food , water and power shortages , officials said . The biggest demonstration took place in al Hamza , a relatively poor town in a heavily Shiite region about 200 kilometers ( 125 miles ) south of Baghdad . Two Iraqi interior ministry officials -- who , per policy , did not speak by name due to security concerns -- estimated that that nearly 1,000 people participated . The protesters walked toward a local council building , trying to force their way in as they hurled rocks inside the compound and at police outside , the Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said . Some were heard shouting , `` We 've had enough '' and `` Where are your promises . '' Iraqi police opened fire , ostensibly to disperse the crowd , and wounded three protesters in the process , the officials said . Four others were hurt while skirmishing with police outside the council building . Eventually , tribal and civic leaders intervened to end the demonstration , the officials said . Some of the protesters carried items such as water tubes and oil lanterns to demonstrate a lack of basic services like water and reliable power . Abu Sajad , a protester , said that sewage had flooded the small town 's streets after heavy rain in recent days , and he complained that `` the government has n't done anything to solve it '' even though it happens every year . `` We 've suffered a lot from bad services in the town , '' Fadhil Hussein , a 50-year-old protester , told CNN . `` One government comes and another leaves , and nothing has changed in this town for decades . '' Dozens of protesters in Kut , part of another predominantly Shiite province about 110 kilometers south of Baghdad , Thursday demanded the resignation of Wasit 's provincial governor , Latif Hamed , according to a Wasit police official and an Iraqi Interior Ministry official . These were the latest in a string of demonstrations around Iraq , mostly emphasizing the same themes -- low-quality public services and a dearth of basic commodities . That was the case Monday , when dozens of protesters took to the street in northern Baghdad 's al-Husseinya district . A day earlier , nearly 200 Iraqis demonstrated in two locations in Baghdad to show solidarity with those in Egyptian rallying against their President Hosni Mubarak and to criticize their own leaders . They included about 100 people who gathered in Firdos Square in the city center , near where U.S. troops in 2004 pulled down a giant statue of former dictator Saddam Hussein . They referenced what was happening in Egypt , as well as their hope that their own government would take steps to improve Iraqis ' security , increase basic services and pursue policies to create more jobs . Figures compiled by Iraq 's Defense , Interior and Health ministries indicate that 259 people -- 159 civilians , 55 police and 45 soldiers -- were killed in January 2011 . The figures also show that 363 people were wounded in January -- 178 civilians , 95 police and 90 soldiers . Meanwhile , Iraq 's national unemployment rate is around 45 % . `` We have suffered more than any other country in the past eight years , and it is time for Iraq 's government to take serious steps to end our suffering , '' said one demonstrator , Qassim Harith . `` We are here to support our brothers in Egypt , but also to give a message to Iraqi politicians and to the Iraqi government that Iraqis are losing patience . '' Elsewhere in Baghdad on Sunday , another 100 people rallied just outside the heavily fortified Green Zone that houses Iraqi government offices and the U.S. and British embassies . They , too , called for government to improve basic services and not to evacuate them from government buildings and institutions . Some carried a coffin draped in a black sheet that read `` The share of the Iraqi . '' `` We sacrifice our blood and souls for Iraq , '' the protesters shouted . Iraqi security forces , from the army and police , sported machine guns as they surrounded the demonstrators . Some of the protesters said they were emboldened by the overthrow of Tunisia 's long-time president , which began after Muhammad Al Bouazizi , a 26-year-old college graduate , set himself afire after a police officer seized the goods from his fruit stand . That popular uprising has been followed by anti-government demonstrations in Algeria , Yemen and Jordan as well as Egypt . `` Of course we have been inspired and what has happened because of a street vendor , who sparked the uprising in Tunis and now in Egypt , '' Hani Sabri , one Baghdad protester , told CNN .
Hundreds protest in al Hamza , an Iraqi town , over a lack of basic services and shortages . 7 are wounded in confrontations with police outside a council building , officials say . Dozens also demonstrate in the central Iraqi city of Kut , according to officials . These anti-government protests follow similar ones Sunday and Monday in Baghdad .