BAGHDAD - An underpass running beneath Baghdad's Tahrir Square has become an ad hoc museum chronicling Iraq's massive anti-government protests. Young protesters have covered the walls of Saadoun Tunnel with images and murals that illustrate the country's tortured past, and the Iraq they aspire to.
The images are both haunting and inspiring, transforming a once dreary, grim underpass into a vivid, colorful wall of art.
“We want a nation, not a prison,” says one painting showing a man bursting free from behind bars.
“Plant a revolution, and you will harvest a nation,” reads another.
The tunnel passes beneath Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests, where thousands of people are camped out.
Almost daily, clashes erupt nearby with security forces. At least 320 protesters have been killed since protests began Oct. 1.
