Decades of Neglect: Baghdad Residents Protest, Plead for Basic Services
Residents of Baghdad's Saidiyyah neighborhood protested after over 20 years without basic services like water or electricity, pleading with the prime minister for action so they can finally build homes on their legally owned land.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Voicing decades of frustration over what they described as systemic neglect, residents of the Saidiyyah neighborhood in Baghdad took to the streets on Wednesday, protesting a complete absence of basic public services that they say has persisted for more than 20 years.
Landowners, many of whom have held title deeds for a quarter of a century, expressed deep disillusionment, questioning how they can be asked for votes in upcoming elections while being denied fundamental infrastructure like water, electricity, and paved roads.
The sense of a promise unfulfilled, passed down through a generation, was a common theme among the demonstrators. One protester told Kurdistan24 that his family received their plot of land when he was a child and his father was a young man.
"My father passed away, and I am getting old, but to this day, no services have been provided for our land," he said, directing his message to the prime minister. "The elections are approaching, where are the services? With what face do you ask us for our votes?"
He further alleged that corruption and a political quota system were to blame for the lack of progress, stating, "For 25 years, we have not received services."
The human cost of the inaction was palpable in the residents' testimonies. Another protester, aged 65, explained he bought his land in 2005 to escape the financial burden of renting, a situation he has been in since 2008.
"Until now I have not been able to build a house on my land because there is not a single service," he lamented. The land, meant to be a foundation for a home, remains barren.
"Go and look at the lands, they look like a desert because there is no water, electricity, sewage, or streets," he added, emphasizing that the plots are legally registered residential units within the Baghdad Municipality, not agricultural or illegally occupied land.
Many of the protesters directed their appeals specifically to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al-Sudani, seeing him as their last resort.
"Our message is only to Mohammed Shia' Al-Sudani. All we want is just services," a demonstrator stated.
A female protester echoed this sentiment with a personal plea. "We ask God, and then we ask you, to provide services for them," she said, before addressing the prime minister directly. "Look at me as if I were your own mother." She described a life spent in "mud huts, rented houses, and dilapidated homes," after her retired husband and she used their pension money to buy a plot of land that remains unusable.
The frustration was also aimed at local administrative bodies, which protesters accused of indifference and corruption.
"This department is very corrupt and practices quota-sharing," one woman said, gesturing behind her. "No one comes to face us."
She described officials arriving in expensive vehicles while her community is left without even the most basic consideration. "Go look at our area, there isn't a single service. Go look, and you will cry," she told the Kurdistan24 correspondent, explaining that her family is still in debt from a bank loan taken to purchase the now-desolate land.
Their core demand, repeated by many, was not for handouts, but for the essential infrastructure needed to build homes and live with dignity.
