BASRA – Iraqi protesters on Friday torched the Iranian consulate in thesouthern city of Basra in fresh demonstrations over poor public servicesafter parliament called for an emergency session on the unrest.
Unidentified attackers also fired shells into Baghdad s fortified GreenZone in a rare attack on an area that houses parliament, government officesand the US embassy. There were no casualties.
Basra has seen a surge in protests since Tuesday, with demonstratorstorching government buildings as well as political party and militiaoffices, as anger boils over after the hospitalisation of 30,000 people whohad drunk polluted water.
At least nine demonstrators have been killed since then in clashes withsecurity forces, Mehdi al-Tamimi, head of Basra s human rights council, hassaid.
In a bid to quell the violence, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said lateFriday that he had instructed security forces to “act decisively againstthe acts of vandalism that accompanied the demonstrations”.
Iraq s Joint Operations Command, which includes the army and police, saidin a statement there would be a “severe” response with “exceptionalsecurity measures”, including banning protests and group travel.
The wave of protests first broke out in July in oil-rich Basra provincebefore spreading to other parts of the country, with demonstrators alsocondemning corruption among Iraqi officials and demanding jobs.
“We re thirsty, we re hungry, we are sick and abandoned,” protester AliHussein told AFP on Friday after another night of violence.
“Demonstrating is a sacred duty and all honest people ought to join.”
Thousands of demonstrators rallied outside the Iranian consulate on Fridaywhile hundreds stormed the building and set it on fire, an AFP photographersaid.
A spokesman for the consulate said that all diplomats and employees wereevacuated from the building before the protesters attacked, and that noneof them were hurt.
Iraq s foreign ministry called the attack against the consulate “anunacceptable act undermining the interests of Iraq and its internationalrelations”.
Iran s foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi denounced the incident asa “savage attack”, according to Iranian news agency Fars.
Iran is a key power broker in Iraq and many of the militias and politicalparties whose offices were torched Thursday are known to be close to theIslamic republic.
Parliament said that lawmakers and ministers, including Abadi, will meet onSaturday to discuss the water contamination crisis, the latest breakdown inpublic services to infuriate residents.
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The meeting was demanded by populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, whosepolitical bloc won the largest number of seats in May elections although anew government has yet to be formed.
Sadr, whose supporters held protests inside the Green Zone in 2016 tocondemn corruption among Iraqi officials, called for “demonstrations ofpeaceful anger” in Basra after the main weekly Muslim prayers on Friday.
And the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, spiritual leader ofIraq s Shiite majority, in his Friday sermon denounced “the bad behaviourof senior officials” and called for the next government to be “differentfrom its predecessors”.
At least 24 people have been killed in the demonstrations since theyerupted in Basra on July 8.
Human rights activists have accused the security forces of opening fire onthe demonstrators.
But the government has blamed provocateurs in the crowds and said troopshave been ordered not to use live rounds.
Amnesty International on Friday denounced “the use of excessive force bysecurity forces” and called for an investigation into the deaths.
The anger on Basra s streets was “in response to the government sintentional policy of neglect” of the oil-rich region, the head of theregion s human rights council Tamimi said.
Abadi has scrambled to defuse the anger and authorities have alreadypledged a multi-billion dollar emergency plan to revive infrastructure andservices in southern Iraq.
But Iraqis remain deeply sceptical as the country remains in a state ofpolitical limbo.
Sadr on Thursday called for politicians to present “radical and immediate”solutions at the emergency meeting of parliament or step down if they failto do so.
Abadi, for his part, is trying to hold onto his post in the next governmentthrough forming an alliance with Sadr, a former militia chief who hascalled for Iraq to have greater political independence from bothneighbouring Iran and the United States. – APP/AFP
