Thousands demonstrated today in the province of Basra in southern Iraq in front of the governorate building in the center of the city, in protest against what they called financial and administrative corruption and poor services provided to the people.

Demonstrators gathered near the Basra provincial building, which was completely closed by security forces and riot police in anticipation of storming by them.

The demonstration coincides with a temperature rise of about 50 degrees Celsius, amid a decline in the hours of power supply, in addition to the lack of drinking water in some areas adequately.

According to observers, the protesters demanded the removal of Governor As'ad al-Eidani, accusing him of corruption and deceiving young people by providing jobs.

The demonstrators blamed the local administration for the decline in services, and threatened to escalate their protests in the coming days, as the governor did not resign from his post and services are available.

The Anatolia news agency quoted Mohammed Khalaf, an army lieutenant commander of Basra operations, that security forces seized at dawn on Thursday hundreds of tires that the demonstrators closed the streets, and deployed hundreds of soldiers and military vehicles in anticipation of any emergency.

Basra has seen sporadic popular protests last year, the peak in July, and saw several provinces in central and southern Sudan demonstrations to demand better public services and jobs and fight corruption.

Demonstrators in Basra are keen to protest near government institutions to pressure officials to fight corruption and improve the situation of civilians.