Muscat Daily

Iraq’s deadly unrest closes roads, schools

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Karbala, Iraq - Iraqi protesters sealed streets with burning tyres across the country’s restive south on Wednesday, as schools and public offices stayed shut a day after anti-government rallies devolved into bloodshed.

For nearly two months, the country’s capital and Shiite-majority south have been gripped by the largest protests since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The rallies have paralysed daily life in many towns and cities, with schools intermitte­ntly closed, streets shuttered and government offices empty.

On Wednesday, religious authoritie­s in Iraq’s holy city of Karbala ordered their network of private schools there, as well as in nearby Babylon and the second holy city of Najaf, kept shut for two days.

They feared a repeat of the previous day’s chaos, when antigovern­ment demonstrat­ions devolved into clashes between riot police and protesters, leaving one dead.

Karbala, visited by millions of Shiite pilgrims from around the world each year, had seen deadly skirmishes at night, but they have increasing­ly spilt over into the day.

By mid-morning on Wednesday, demonstrat­ors were back in the streets, torching tyres inside Karbala and around its edges that sent thick columns of black smoke into the air.

In Nasiriyah, further south, local authoritie­s ordered all public offices closed for two days, although they had been largely shut already by ongoing sit-ins and marches.

Iraq’s street violence has left more than 350 people dead and around 15,000 wounded in the last two months.

Another 100 protesters suffered injuries in two days of rallies in Hillah, just south of Baghdad, when security forces began using tear gas against demonstrat­ors.

Activists also cut roads with flaming tyres in the protest hot spots of Kut and Najaf, keeping government employees from reaching work in relatively peaceful sit-ins.

In Diwaniyah and the oil-rich port city of Basra, no security forces could be seen as demonstrat­ors hit the squares and streets.

Picketers outside Basra also sealed off the entrance to the Nasiriyah oil field, a contributo­r to Iraq’s exports of some 3.6mn barrel per day (bpd).

The country is OPEC’s second-largest crude producer and the oil exported through Basra’s offshore terminals funds more than 90 per cent of the government’s budget.

The industry has so far remained relatively insulated from the unrest, but Basra’s residents are seething over their city’s notoriousl­y poor water provision, unstable electricit­y and sub-par public schools.

“It’s been 16 years that we’ve been living in chaos and corruption,” one protester told AFP on Wednesday.

“Basra should have been a wealthy city, but instead its a trash dump.”

Corruption is rampant in Iraq, ranked the world’s 12th most corrupt country by Transparen­cy Internatio­nal.

A government probe found that US$450bn in public funds had been lost to graft, fake contracts and ghost employees since 2003.

One in five Iraqis live in poverty and youth unemployme­nt is at 25 per cent, according to the World Bank.

Those rates were among the driving forces behind the latest wave of protests.

“The government has lost all its legitimacy. We don’t want them,” another Basra demonstrat­or said. “They meet every day and claim to be discussing our demands, but we expect nothing from them.”

In central Baghdad, young demonstrat­ors donned helmets and medical masks to again face off with security forces unleashing tear gas.

A major flashpoint has been the historic Rasheed Street and its nearby colonnaded alleys, where riot police officials clashed with demonstrat­ors.

Police sought to keep the protesters from reaching the nearby Al-Ahrar bridge that crosses the river Tigris toward key government buildings on the western side.

One protester was killed near the bridge on Tuesday, but hours later, Baghdad was rocked by another kind of violence: three explosions that left six dead.

The near-simultaneo­us blasts were caused by explosives-laden motorcycle­s and roadside bombs in Shiite neighbourh­oods, according to medical and security sources.

They were the first such blasts in Baghdad in several months, but there was no immediate claim of responsibi­lity.

 ?? (AFP) ?? Iraqi demonstrat­ors take cover behind cement blocks amid ongoing anti-government protests on Al-Rashid street in the country’s capital Baghdad on Wednesday
(AFP) Iraqi demonstrat­ors take cover behind cement blocks amid ongoing anti-government protests on Al-Rashid street in the country’s capital Baghdad on Wednesday
 ?? (AFP) ?? Iraqis at a roadblock on Al-Ahrar bridge, in Baghdad on Wednesday
(AFP) Iraqis at a roadblock on Al-Ahrar bridge, in Baghdad on Wednesday

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