Security troops forcibly disperse protests outside oilfield, provincial council in Basra
Iraq suffers from acute financial crisis due to dropped oil prices and anti-terrorism expenses [File photo]
Speaking to Baghdad Today, the source said, “security troops dispersed two sit-ins outside the provincial council and Qurna-1 oilfield, hours after the protesters gathered.”
Troops, according to the source, “prevented the protesters from setting up the tents outside the council and ended the one outside Qurna, which was staged on Saturday evening.”
Earlier today, a source said protesters started to flock toward the council and began setting up the tents.
The protesters, according to the source, “flocked toward the council to start and open-ended sit-in, until the demands related to poor services, unemployment and corruption are fulfilled.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi ordered dismissing Qassim al-Fahdawi, the electricity minister, and refer him to investigations. The move comes a day after the Independent High Electoral Commission endorsed Abadi’s recommendations to sack five election officials in the wake of fraud allegations in the parliamentary elections, which took place in May.
Protests have been staged across central and southern provinces of Iraq for around three weeks.
Earlier this month, Mostafa Saadon, the spokesman for the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, said mass protests in Iraq left 831 protesters killed and injured in 10 days.