BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi police used batons and rubber hoses to disperse around 250 protestors gathered at the main entrance to the huge oil field in the southern province of Basra on Tuesday amid mounting tensions in southern cities to protest the deterioration of public services.
"We have orders not to fire, but we also have orders not to allow anyone to influence the operations in the oilfields, and we will take the necessary measures to remove the demonstrators from the fields," Reuters quoted a security official at the protest venue as saying.
The deputy in the Directorate of Energy Police Abdul Ghafoor Mahmoud Anatolia that the demonstrators are demanding the provision of jobs in the field and the provision of public services in the district Zubayr.
"I will not go if you kill me, I will stay here, I want a job," said an Iraqi demonstrator named Morteza Rahman, 22, who was running barefoot for fear of police arresting him in front of the Zubayr field. "I live in a place rich in oil, which generates billions of dollars while I work in collecting garbage from people to feed my child, I want a simple job this is my only request."
A security guard was also injured in the face after protesters threw stones, while security personnel threw sand to extinguish tires in which the protesters set fire to the fire.
The spokesman for the Joint Operations Command in Iraq, Brigadier Yahya Rasool, said that the number of injured security personnel during the popular protests in the southern provinces of Iraq amounted to 262, according to statistics of the Ministry of Health.
Rasul told a news conference that the injuries of six of these critical, and that 30 wounded are still lying in hospitals.
Rasoul affirmed the determination of the security forces to protect the demonstrators and not to tolerate them in dealing with what he described as "extended hands to tamper with the security of the demonstrators and the institutions of the people."
There seems to be no sign that the protesters, who bear the brunt of the heat, are turning away from their demands. They expressed their anger in Basra, the largest cities in the south, Samawah, Amarah, Nasiriyah, Najaf, Karbala and Hilla.
Since the start of the protests in Basra on July 9, and spread to all provinces south of the country has fallen six people among the demonstrators so far as well as dozens of wounded demonstrators and security forces, Anatolia news agency quoted local and security sources and protesters.
| Security forces at the entrance to Zubair field armed with batons and hoses to suppress the demonstrators (Reuters) |
Containment efforts
The Iraqi government has taken decisions to contain the protests, including the allocation of government jobs and funds for the province of Basra, as well as plans to implement service projects in the short and medium term, but the demonstrations are still ongoing. The Baghdad government says saboteurs are using the protests to target public property, and is intent on addressing them.
The south of Iraq has been neglected for decades despite the oil wealth, and piles of waste were seen in many of the streets of Basra. Standing water and sewage have caused health problems. Drinking water is sometimes contaminated with silt and dust, while electricity is cut off seven hours a day.
For many years Iraqis have been protesting poor public services and rampant corruption in a country that receives tens of billions of dollars a year from selling oil.
Residents in Iraq are increasingly discontentful of the government in the summer due to frequent power outages in a hot climate of 50 degrees Celsius.
On a related, the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi on Monday evening with leaders and representatives of the political blocs of protests in the south of the country.
According to a statement issued by the Office of Abadi, seen by Anatolia, the participants stressed the right to peaceful demonstration and expression of opinion and understanding of the legitimate demands of citizens and work to meet them. And rejected the leaders of the political blocs, according to the statement abuses of public and private property and state institutions and attacks on security forces.