Sources in the Iraqi Human Rights Commission confirmed the injury of 120 demonstrators yesterday, cases of suffocation due to the Iraqi forces attempt to disperse the demonstrators in front of the gates of the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr in Basra province south of Baghdad. According to eyewitnesses, Iraqi security forces tried to disperse demonstrators using tear gas, while protesters blocked roads leading to Majnoon oil field.

Witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that security forces launched an attack on groups of demonstrators approaching the number of 1000 demonstrators gathering at the gates of the port of Umm Qasr commercial, and fired tear gas to remove the demonstrators stationed in the vicinity of the port.

The security sources said that the protesters blocked the roads leading to the port of Umm Qasr, where the operations stopped since last Wednesday, after the protesters closed the entrance for the first time.

The port of Umm Qasr receives imports of cereals, vegetable oils and sugar shipments that feed the country, which is heavily dependent on imported food.Trucks carrying goods have been banned from entering or leaving the port, and port officials have said some international shipping lines have been suspended because of the closure of the port.

Protesters burned tires and set up concrete barriers out of anger over riot police seeking to disperse them by force, as part of a protest movement that made tens of thousands of Iraqis take to the streets to protest against corruption and poor public services.

On the other hand, protesters blocked roads leading to Majnoon oil field, and prevented employees from reaching there, but oil sources said that the operations were not affected.

A security source said yesterday that Abu Nuwas Street was closed to Tahrir Square in central Baghdad with concrete blocks, after the Iraqi capital witnessed a night of violence between security forces and demonstrators demanding to "overthrow the regime." They occupy day and night Tahrir Square in central Baghdad despite promises of reforms .

Dozens of people were injured, according to medical sources told AFP during clashes over the Al-Jumhuriya Bridge, which connects Tahrir to the Green Zone, and the Al-Senak Bridge.

A member of the Iraqi Human Rights Commission, Faisal Al-Abdullah, said that the number of demonstrations since its inception amounted to 260 dead and about 12 thousand injured, pointing out that about 100 government buildings and the headquarters of political parties were burned, pointing out that the Commission had difficulty in obtaining information through its teams Observations deployed in all governorates of Iraq except the Kurdistan region.

He said in remarks to «Alsumaria», yesterday: «Ministries of Health and Interior did not help UNHCR information, and there is a clear blackout on this information». He explained that «the goal of the announcement of these statistics by the Commission is to reduce violence and the loss of victims through live bullets, rubber and tear gas».

Faced with a wave of protests that is increasing day by day, Iraqi President Barham Saleh promised to hold early parliamentary elections under a new electoral law, while Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said he was ready to resign if he found an alternative. The House of Representatives announced that in an «open session», despite the failure so far to hold a hearing for the Prime Minister, the first on his agenda.

260

One hundred government and party buildings have been burned since the protests began in Iraq.