More casualties in Iraq protests as main port closed

BASRA - Iraq's main seaport closed down on Thursday following clashes between protestors and security forces in the nearby southern city of Basra in which one demonstrator died and 25 were injured the previous night.

Southern Iraq, heartland of the country's Shiite majority, has erupted in unrest in recent weeks as protesters express rage over collapsing infrastructure, power cuts and corruption.

Port employees said that all operations had ceased on Thursday morning at Umm Qasr port - the main lifeline for grain and other commodity imports that feed the country - after protestors blocked the entrance. Trucks and staff were unable to get in or out of the complex.

Officials announced a citywide curfew would be in place after 3 pm local time, but cancelled it just as it was due to come into force. A senior security source told Reuters that a heavy deployment of security forces - including members of the rapid response team - would be on patrol in Basra to enforce the curfew and impose calm.

Residents in Basra, a city of more than 2 million people, say the water supply has become contaminated with salt, making them vulnerable and desperate in the hot summer months. Hundreds of people have been hospitalised from drinking it.

A Health Ministry spokesman told a news conference in Baghdad that 6,280 people had been recently hospitalised with diarrhoea due to the oversalinated water.

The protesters began blocking the entrance to Umm Qasr port, which lies about 60 km (40 miles) from Basra, on Wednesday. They also blocked the highway from Basra to Baghdad and set fire to the main provincial government building where they had been demonstrating for a third night.

The security forces sprayed tear gas and fired into the air to try to disperse demonstrators. According to health sources, the dead protester was struck on the head by a smoke grenade during the clashes.

Wednesday's death brought the total number of protesters killed during clashes since Monday to seven, with dozens more injured. Tens of security forces members had also been injured in the violence, some by a hand grenade, local health and security officials said.

Public anger has grown at a time when politicians are struggling to form a new government after an inconclusive parliamentary election in May. Residents of the south complain of decades of neglect in the region that produces the bulk of Iraq's oil wealth.

Leading political figures, embroiled in government formation negotiations in Baghdad, have scrambled to respond to the intensifying crisis, condemning rivals for inaction.

Without dignity

Incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi convened an emergency cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss the unrest and ordered the Interior Ministry to conduct an immediate investigation into the protest.

At a news conference on Thursday, Moqtada al-Sadr, a populist Shiite cleric whose electoral bloc came first in May's national election, called for an emergency televised session of parliament to discuss the crisis in Basra, a city "without water, electricity or dignity".

Iraq's second biggest city, Basra is a stronghold of Sadr who has recast himself as an anti-corruption campaigner and has allied himself with Abadi.

Sadr called for "radical" solutions to the health crisis which has so far put an estimated 30,000 people in hospital.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, along with the ministers of interior, health, housing, water resources and electricity, must all attend along with officials from Basra province, Sadr said.

"We will be uncompromising and you have been warned, be ready," said the cleric, whose successful campaign in the May election focused on tackling Iraq's endemic corruption.

Politicians must present "radical and immediate" solutions at the meeting or step down if they fail to do so, he said.

Abadi responded shortly afterwards, saying he was "ready to attend a parliamentary session with the ministers and officials concerned, to discuss the situation and the needs of Basra province".

The premier is trying to hold onto his post in the future government through forming an alliance with Sadr, a former militia chief who has called for Iraq to have greater political independence from neighbouring Iran and the United States.

Despite Iraq holding elections nearly five months ago, parliament reconvened for the first time on Monday after claims of fraud triggered a vote recount.

The session was brief and lawmakers are not scheduled to meet again until September 15, in order to allow the various political blocs time to agree on alliances and on a candidate for parliamentary speaker.

Ahead of Abadi and other top officials meeting to discuss the social unrest, Sadr called for "protests expressing anger peacefully" in Basra and said plans for such rallies would be announced soon.

As well as the water supply, demonstrators have protested against incompetent officials who have failed to tackle chronic electricity shortages and high unemployment in their oil-rich but marginalised province.

At least 22 people have been killed in demonstrations since they erupted in Basra on July 8, before spreading across southern Iraq.