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DPA
Basra
Anti-government protests in Iraq forced a major trade port to close on Thursday, just a few hours after it reopened, according to witnesses.
Earlier on Thursday, trucks loaded with goods began entering the port again after the road leading to the Umm Qasr Port in the oil-rich southern province of Basra was reopened when protesters ended a sit-in outside the gates of the port.
A few hours later, the road was blocked again as protesters reassembled and started burning tires, witnesses told DPA.
Last week, protesters had blocked roads leading to the port as part of demonstrations that have paralysed Iraq and resulted in economic losses of more than 6 billion dollars, according to the army.
Street protests have roiled Iraq in two waves since early October. Demonstrators have decried corruption, lack of jobs and poor access to electricity and clean water in the oil-wealthy country.
The demonstrators have also demanded the resignation of the government, the dissolution of parliament and an overhaul of the country’s political system that has been in place since the 2003-led invasion of Iraq.
The protests have turned violent, leaving at least 260 people dead and 11,000 others injured, according to rights groups.
The protests are the country’s largest since December 2017, when Iraq declared the liberation of all territory previously under the control of Islamic State militants.
Basra
Anti-government protests in Iraq forced a major trade port to close on Thursday, just a few hours after it reopened, according to witnesses.
Earlier on Thursday, trucks loaded with goods began entering the port again after the road leading to the Umm Qasr Port in the oil-rich southern province of Basra was reopened when protesters ended a sit-in outside the gates of the port.
A few hours later, the road was blocked again as protesters reassembled and started burning tires, witnesses told DPA.
Last week, protesters had blocked roads leading to the port as part of demonstrations that have paralysed Iraq and resulted in economic losses of more than 6 billion dollars, according to the army.
Street protests have roiled Iraq in two waves since early October. Demonstrators have decried corruption, lack of jobs and poor access to electricity and clean water in the oil-wealthy country.
The demonstrators have also demanded the resignation of the government, the dissolution of parliament and an overhaul of the country’s political system that has been in place since the 2003-led invasion of Iraq.
The protests have turned violent, leaving at least 260 people dead and 11,000 others injured, according to rights groups.
The protests are the country’s largest since December 2017, when Iraq declared the liberation of all territory previously under the control of Islamic State militants.
