Protests over poor public services broke out in the city of Basrah again despite the tight security measures and the curfew imposed by the authorities.
Iraq’s main seaport closed down on Thursday following violent clashes between protestors and security forces in southern Basra.
Port employees said that all operations had ceased on Thursday morning at Umm Qasr port as the entrance was still blocked off and trucks and staff were unable to get in or out of the complex.
Overnight, protesters blocked the entrance to the nearby Umm Qasr port, the main lifeline for grain and other commodity imports that feed the country.
They 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.
Earlier on Wednesday, the third day of clashes, security forces sprayed tear gas and fired into the air to try to disperse demonstrators. According to health sources, the dead protester was struck in the head by a smoke grenade during the clashes.
The deaths of five protesters in clashes with security forces on Tuesday added to the fury.
“The injury toll of the protests in Basra province has increased to 70 individuals,” Iraq’s Ministry of Health said in a statement on Wednesday. Forty-one are civilians, while the other 27 were security members.
But other sources suggest that the number exceeds the 100 injuries, and indicated that about eight persons were killed.
Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi had ordered on Wednesday the opening of investigations into the killings of protesters.
The Iraqi army on Wednesday blamed “unidentified gunmen” for the death of six demonstrators earlier this week in the southern Basra province.
“The protesters slain yesterday in downtown Basra were killed by unknown gunmen in a car,” army commander Jamil al-Shammari said in a statement a day after the massacre. He did not identify the group by name, indicating they were criminal gangs in Basra to assassinate citizens and create strife in the city.
Shammari denied reports that Iraqi security forces fired on protesters outside provincial headquarters but went on to assert that the demonstrations “were not entirely peaceful in nature”.
“Security forces had prepared water, flowers and Iraqi flags to distribute for protestors. But we were surprised to see some of them throwing grenades, burning military vehicles and the provincial council building, and assaulting citizens,” the Commander told the journalists.
For the first time in years, former President of the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani weighed in on the crisis hitting the southern Iraqi province of Basra, saying it is shocking that the people of the country’s richest city suffer from a lack of clean water.
“We consider protesting and these protests to be the right of the people, and at the same time, consider that the people of Basra have the right to live in reasonable conditions, which they deserve,” Barzani argued in a statement released by his press office.
Outgoing Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Iraq, Jan Kubis, expressed grave concern over the casualties during violent protests in Basra. He offered his condolences to the families of the dead and wishes the injured a speedy recovery.
Kubis called for calm and urged the authorities to avoid using disproportionate force against the demonstrators while asking the government to do its utmost to respond to the people’s rightful demands.
Meanwhile, Muqtada Al-Sadr sided with the protesters, saying they "only want to earn their living with dignity."
"We have to unite efforts to save Basra from corruption, sectarianism and militias," Sadr continued.
"Stop assaulting Basra and its people... Don't test our patience," he warned.
He called the parliament to hold an urgent session to solve the issue while calling his supporters for a peaceful protest.
