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Poor Public Services, Unemployment Trigger Raging Protests in Iraq

The Iraqi government held an emergency meeting on Saturday after protests against high unemployment and a lack of basic services spread to the nation’s capital, Baghdad.
The Iraqi government held an emergency meeting on Saturday after protests against high unemployment and a lack of basic services spread to the nation’s capital, Baghdad.

The Iraqi government held an emergency meeting on Saturday after protests against high unemployment and a lack of basic services spread to the nation’s capital, Baghdad.

The National Security Council was urgently convened under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and decided to cut Internet access in the capital to prevent the unrest from spreading further.

Hundreds of Iraqi protesters stormed government buildings in the south of the country on Friday and occupied Najaf International Airport, demanding better services and job opportunities, Al Jazeera reported.

In the latest in a week of daily protests against corruption and poor governance, demonstrators clashed with security forces in several provinces, including Maysan, Dhi Qar, Basra, Najaf and Karbala.

At least one person was killed and 15 injured in Maysan when Iraqi forces shot at protesters after they attacked and set fire to office buildings used by Abadi’s Islamic Dawa Party, the Al-Badr Organization and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

Hundreds of protesters also cut a road leading to the Umm Qasr seaport in Basra province, Iraq’s largest seaport in the Persian Gulf.

Rampant electricity cuts have exacerbated a sweltering heat wave, with Basra seeing temperatures exceed 48 degrees Celsius in recent days.

 

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