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Dozens wounded as south Iraq protesters clash with police
BASRA, Iraq, July 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Dozens of demonstrators were
wounded in southern Iraq Sunday in clashes with police as protests over
unemployment and a lack of basic services entered a second week, officials
said.
The protests hit several provinces including Basra, despite Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi announcing fresh funds and pledges of investment for the oil-
rich but neglected region.
The internet had been out of service across the country for 48 hours.
In the city of Basra, demonstrators tried to storm the governor’s
headquarters but were dispersed by police who fired tear gas at them, an AFP
reporter said.
Police also fired tear gas at stone-throwing demonstrators who tried to
push their way into the Zubeir oil field south of the city, the reporter
said.
Several people, including journalists, were overcome by the gas, the
reporter said.
In Nasiriyah, provincial capital of neighbouring Dhi Qar province, 15
demonstrators and 25 policemen were injured in clashes, deputy health
director Abdel Hussein al-Jabri said.
The clashes, including hand-to-hand combat, erupted when the demonstrators
gathered outside the governor’s office and pelted security forces with
stones.
In Muthana province bordering Basra, hundreds of demonstrators gathered
outside the governor’s headquarters and some torched parts of the building, a
police source said.
Protesters in Muthana also set fire to the offices of the Iranian-backed
Badr organisation in the province’s largest city of Samawa.
On Saturday, protesters had set alight Badr’s headquarters in Basra,
prompting authorities to impose an overnight curfew across the whole
province.
– Promises of investment –
In the Shiite shrine city of Najaf, security forces dispersed a large
protest on Sunday morning, an AFP correspondent said.
A large contingent from Saraya al-Salam, a paramilitary force loyal to
prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr who won May elections, also deployed in
the streets.
Demonstrators also packed the streets of the holy central city of Karbala
on Saturday night and clashed with police outside the offices of the
governor.
An AFP reporter in the city said police fired into the air as demonstrators
threw stones at them, adding that at least 30 people were wounded in the
clashes.
The unrest first erupted last Sunday when security forces opened fire,
killing one person, as youths demonstrated in Basra demanding jobs and
accusing the government of failing to provide basic services including
electricity.
Two more demonstrators died from gunshot wounds following protests
overnight Friday, although it was not clear who killed them.
The protests — which have spread north to Baghdad — come as Iraq
struggles to rebuild after three-year war against Islamic State group
jihadists, which has ravaged their country’s infrastructure.
Oil-rich Iraq has been rocked by a series of conflicts since the 1980s and
says it needs $88 billion to rebuild after the war on IS.
Officially, 10.8 percent of Iraqis are jobless, while youth unemployment is
twice as high, in a country where 60 percent of the population is aged under
24.
The oil sector accounts for 89 percent of the state budget and 99 percent
of Iraq’s export revenues, but only one percent of jobs, as the majority of
posts are filled by foreigners.
On Saturday evening, the prime minister announced investment worth $3
billion (2.6 billion euros) for Basra province, as well as pledging
additional spending on housing, schools and services.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1852 hrs