As a tribute to 400 protesters who have died at the hands of security forces and unidentified assailants firing live ammunition and tear gas to disperse the demonstrations, Iraq's Christian leaders have unanimously called-off Christmas-related celebrations.
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The Christmas tree in the middle of a central Baghdad plaza occupied by anti-government protesters is bare, save for portraits of those killed under fire from security forces.
Leaders explained that it was an attempt to go deeper than tinsel and fairy lights.
Slogans of a united Iraq free of sectarianism resonate deeply within the Christian community, which since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein has fearfully observed its diminishing influence amid growing Shiite-dominated politics shaping state affairs.
Church officials have said that they support the leaderless protest movement for other reasons, said, church officials.
Another pastor, Ara Badalian distributed food to protesters along with 40 fellow church members under the Jumariyah bridge near Tahrir Square in Baghdad
Protests erupted in Baghdad and the predominantly Shiite southern provinces on October 1, when thousands of Iraqis first took to the streets calling for sweeping political reforms and the end of Iran's influence in Iraqi affairs. They are also demanding amendment of the sectarian-based 2005 constitution.
Celebrations will be limited to prayers, and money budgeted for decorations and festivities for the community will be donated to funds supporting wounded protesters, said Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Church in Iraq.
We will have no other celebration, we cannot make a big feast when our country is in a critical situation, he added.
