Police shoot dead Iraqi and injure eight in Basra protest over lack of public services
The Iraqi interior ministry has opened an investigation after police fired on protesters in the southern city of Basra, killing one and wounding eight.
Local authorities said police shot into a crowd of between 20 and 40 people who were demonstrating against poor provision of government services.
“Protesters were only making fair demands for jobs and better basic services, but police opened fire,” said Yaseen Al Battat, a mayor from the Imam Sadiq area where the demonstration took place.
Basra is a centre for oil exports, which account for more than 95 per cent of Baghdad’s central government revenue. However, poverty rates and unemployment remain high.
The protesters, from farmland areas about 100 kilometres north of Basra, gathered on a road near the southern oilfield perimeters of West Qurna-2, which is being developed by Russia’s Lukoil, and West Qurna 1, which is operated by ExxonMobil, police said.
Tribes and communities near major oilfields regularly protest to call on international companies and the Iraqi government to provide more employment opportunities and public services for locals.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s electoral commission announced it will today resume the manual recount of ballots in several areas, including Basra, in an attempt to end the country’s political stalemate after accusations of irregularities in May’s parliamentary vote.
“The recount is scheduled to resume this morning for ballot boxes at polling stations where vote rigging and fraud were reported, in the provinces of Basra, Maysan, Dhi Qar, Muthanna, Al
The manual recount of ballots from polling stations where vote-rigging and fraud were reported resumes today
Qadisiyah and Wasit,” said Laith Hamza, spokesman for Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission.
The May elections, the fourth since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, had the country’s lowest voter turnout at only 44 per cent, amid public anger at the country’s dysfunctional political system.
The recount began last Tuesday in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk where a large number of complaints were recorded.
Representatives from the UN and international observers will inspect the manual recount. Votes cast overseas in Iran, Turkey, Britain, Lebanon, Jordan, the United States and Germany will also be retallied.
Electronic voting machines were used in the elections for the first time in an attempt to eliminate electoral fraud. However, there were complaints that these were used to rig the outcome in some areas.
In an amendment to election law last month, parliament demanded a nationwide recount of votes. But it did not follow the demands of some parties to cancel the votes of areas with the most alleged irregularities and to rerun the election in these places.