Basra police use tear gas after protesters start fire, injure officer

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Security forces in the city of Basra used tear gas to disperse a group of protesters who torched a police guard post and injured an officer, local media reported.

In the afternoon, demonstrators gathered in front of the new governorate building and repeated demands for employment opportunities and access to better public services. They also called for the release of 15 people who had been arrested during another protest in the town of Az-al-Din Salim in the province a few days prior.

As the hours passed and the crowd began to scatter, a number of protesters walked down the street, away from the gathering point. Upon arriving at a guard post used by police tasked with emergency response in the area, they set it aflame.

The group also threw stones at police officers, injuring one, according to Alsumaria news outlet. Media also reported that they burned tires in the road.

Additional security forces arrived soon thereafter and fired tear gas canisters at the protesters, causing them to flee. Complete casualty figures have not yet been released.

Mass protests began in July in Basra and spread across several southern and central provinces, including the capital of Baghdad. Participants burned down multiple governmental and party offices over the next few months, notable among them Basra's governorate building and Iranian Consulate.

In addition to demands for better employment and services mentioned above, other central issues of the movement have been chronically poor infrastructure and government corruption. Organizers decry the low standard of living in the oil-rich province, the petroleum exports from which account for over 90 percent of the nation's total revenue.

Though protests slowed in late 2018, they began again in December when crowds began to reiterate their frustrations, continuing to claim that officials were still failing to deliver on promises made during the runup to the last national election in May.

Today's protest appears to be a continued escalation in the methods of the demonstrators and likely points to a growing outrage among the public, viewing the local and central governments as irresponsive to their demands.

This comes as the national parliament continues a months-long deadlock over the selection of the three remaining ministries in Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi's administration. 

Editing by John J. Catherine