Hollow building becomes centre of Iraq's uprising

BRINGING LIGHT

On the lower floors, young people handed out flyers listing their demands. Medical volunteers came to check up the wounded and distribute saline, inhalers, and masks for those in need.

"We're here to help our children – these young people fighting for their country," said a 44-year-old doctor who gave only her first name, Sahar. She had brought her son and daughter, also a doctor, to the protests to help distribute the $400 in supplies she brought.

"If we don't help, who will? Neither the Ministry of Health nor our own hospitals will give us supplies to help treat wounded protesters," she said.

Nearby, engineer Bashir Ghalib, wearing a white construction hat, was instructing young men setting up an electric grid.

"We worked with volunteers and donors to install electricity in the Turkish Restaurant in six hours while successive governments have not been able to bring light in 16 years," he said.