As protesters gathered at the entrance to Iraq's Siba natural gas field in a renewed protest over jobs, security forces in Basra started making the first of dozens of arrests. Baghdad is preparing for more protests.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
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Basra protests spark nationwide anger in Iraq as clampdown starts
Protests in the oil-rich Iraqi province of Basra have been on the boil for a week and intensified over the weekend as angry protests spread to the capital. A clampdown is underway, but the mood is still volatile.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
Temperatures on the rise
Protesters burned tires during a demonstration in Basra, some 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad on Friday, July 13. They were demanding services and jobs in the oil-rich province. Officially, 10.8 percent of Iraqis are jobless, while youth unemployment is double that. For many, politicians' pledges of Iraqi oil for Iraqis ring hollow.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
With a rush and a push
Protesters in front of the provincial council building in Basra on Sunday. Protests boiled over last week when security forces opened fire. Such demonstrations in the provincial capital are not unusual in the scorching summer weather but this year rallies have spread to other provinces.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Protests spread to Baghdad
The protests soon spread from Basra to other parts of the country including the capital, Baghdad. Iraqis with national flags demonstrate here in Baghdad's Tahrir Square on July 14 after two demonstrators were killed in southern Iraq. In the city's northwestern Shula neighborhood, people chanted "Iran, out out! Baghdad is free!" and "The people want to overthrow the regime."
Image: AFP/Getty Images/A. Al Rubaye
Battle lines drawn
Iraqi riot police stop protesters storming the provincial council building during a demonstration in Basra on Sunday, July 15. Authorities have put security forces on high alert. At least 30 people were reported wounded on Saturday night in the central holy city of Karbala, where police fired into the air as demonstrators threw stones at them.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
Burning bridges
Riot police prevented protesters from storming the provincial council building during a demonstration in Basra on Sunday. Police were reported chasing protesters down main roads and alleys following demonstrations in the city and near the local oil fields. The oil sector accounts for 89 percent of the state budget and 99 percent of export revenues, but only one percent of jobs.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
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An estimated 200 protesters gathered on Monday morning at the main gate leading to three of Iraq's major oil fields in the southern oil-exporting city of Basra.
In a Friday sermon, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani, expressed solidarity with the protesters, saying they faced an "extreme lack of public services."
Basra protests spark nationwide anger in Iraq as clampdown starts
Protests in the oil-rich Iraqi province of Basra have been on the boil for a week and intensified over the weekend as angry protests spread to the capital. A clampdown is underway, but the mood is still volatile.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
Temperatures on the rise
Protesters burned tires during a demonstration in Basra, some 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad on Friday, July 13. They were demanding services and jobs in the oil-rich province. Officially, 10.8 percent of Iraqis are jobless, while youth unemployment is double that. For many, politicians' pledges of Iraqi oil for Iraqis ring hollow.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
With a rush and a push
Protesters in front of the provincial council building in Basra on Sunday. Protests boiled over last week when security forces opened fire. Such demonstrations in the provincial capital are not unusual in the scorching summer weather but this year rallies have spread to other provinces.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Protests spread to Baghdad
The protests soon spread from Basra to other parts of the country including the capital, Baghdad. Iraqis with national flags demonstrate here in Baghdad's Tahrir Square on July 14 after two demonstrators were killed in southern Iraq. In the city's northwestern Shula neighborhood, people chanted "Iran, out out! Baghdad is free!" and "The people want to overthrow the regime."
Image: AFP/Getty Images/A. Al Rubaye
Battle lines drawn
Iraqi riot police stop protesters storming the provincial council building during a demonstration in Basra on Sunday, July 15. Authorities have put security forces on high alert. At least 30 people were reported wounded on Saturday night in the central holy city of Karbala, where police fired into the air as demonstrators threw stones at them.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
Burning bridges
Riot police prevented protesters from storming the provincial council building during a demonstration in Basra on Sunday. Police were reported chasing protesters down main roads and alleys following demonstrations in the city and near the local oil fields. The oil sector accounts for 89 percent of the state budget and 99 percent of export revenues, but only one percent of jobs.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
5 images1 | 5
Too little, too late
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has promised jobs to locals, mainly in the oil sector, since the recent spate of protest erupted last week — and said at the weekend there would be an urgent allocation of 3.5 trillion Iraqi dinars ($3 billion, €2.6 billion) for electricity and water projects.
The clampdown starts
Arrests started on Sunday night, with police chasing protesters along main roads and alleys during and after the protests in Basra.
Activists told The Associated Press the number of arrests may run into the hundreds.
The internet was also shut down for two days and there was a large deployment of security forces outside the local government building in Basra. Police also closed off surrounding streets with barbed wire.
The local airport in Basra was reopened on Monday after a two-day break. Kuwait Airways, the Royal Jordanian and Iran's Aviation Authority suspended flights to Najaf on Sunday, citing security concerns.
Iraq's vital Um Qasr port on the Persian Gulf, and two main border crossings, Safwan with Kuwait and Shalamcheh with Iran, were closed to both passengers and goods as protesters had blocked the main roads leading to the sites.
