Main Iraqi port closed as one dies, 25 injured in Basra protests
BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq’s main seaport closed down on Thursday following clashes between protestors and security forces in the nearby southern city of Basra in which one demonstrator died and 25 were injured the previous night.
Iraqi soldiers are seen at Umm Qasr Port after it was closed by protesters in south of Basra, Iraq September 6, 2018. REUTERS/Essam al-Sudani
Southern Iraq, heartland of the country’s Shi’ite majority, has erupted in unrest in recent weeks as protesters express rage over collapsing infrastructure, power cuts and corruption.
Port employees said that all operations had ceased on Thursday morning at Umm Qasr port - the main lifeline for grain and other commodity imports that feed the country - after protestors blocked the entrance. Trucks and staff were unable to get in or out of the complex.
Officials announced a citywide curfew would be in place after 3 pm local time, but canceled it just as it was due to come into force. A senior security source told Reuters that a heavy deployment of security forces - including members of the rapid response team - would be on patrol in Basra to enforce the curfew and impose calm.
Residents in Basra, a city of more than 2 million people, say the water supply has become contaminated with salt, making them vulnerable and desperate in the hot summer months. Hundreds of people have been hospitalized from drinking it.
Iraqi soldiers are seen at Umm Qasr Port after it was closed by protesters in south of Basra, Iraq September 6, 2018. REUTERS/Essam al-Sudani
A Health Ministry spokesman told a news conference in Baghdad that 6,280 people had been recently hospitalized with diarrhoea due to the oversalinated water.
The protesters began blocking the entrance to Umm Qasr port, which lies about 60 km (40 miles) from Basra, on Wednesday. They also blocked the highway from Basra to Baghdad and set fire to the main provincial government building where they had been demonstrating for a third night.
Public anger has grown at a time when politicians are struggling to form a new government after an inconclusive parliamentary election in May. Residents of the south complain of decades of neglect in the region that produces the bulk of Iraq’s oil wealth.
Leading political figures, embroiled in government formation negotiations in Baghdad, have scrambled to respond to the intensifying crisis, condemning rivals for inaction.
WITHOUT DIGNITY
Incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi convened an emergency cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss the unrest and ordered the Interior Ministry to conduct an immediate investigation into the protest.
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At a news conference on Thursday, Moqtada al-Sadr, a populist Shi’ite cleric whose electoral bloc came first in May’s national election, called for an emergency televised session of parliament to discuss the crisis in Basra, a city “without water, electricity or dignity”.
Iraq’s second biggest city, Basra is a stronghold of Sadr who has recast himself as an anti-corruption campaigner and has allied himself with Abadi.
The prime minister said he would be ready to attend a meeting of parliament with the ministers and officials concerned to try to find a resolution.
Parliament convened for the first time on Monday, but failed to elect a speaker as mandated, delaying its next meeting to Sept. 15.
On Wednesday security forces sprayed tear gas and fired into the air to try to disperse demonstrators. According to health sources, the dead protester was struck on the head by a smoke grenade during the clashes.
Wednesday night’s death brought the total number of protesters killed during clashes since Monday to seven, with dozens more injured. Tens of security forces members had also been injured in the violence, some by a hand grenade, local health and security officials said.
Reporting by Aref Mohammed in Basra and Raya Jalabi in Erbil; writing by Raya Jalabi; editing by Jason Neely and David Stamp
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