18 arrested for demonstrating in Iraq’s Basra province

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD

Iraqi security forces on Wednesday detained 18 people for taking part in a sit-in outside a major oil facility in the southern Basra province.

Lieutenant Mohamed Khalaf of the Iraqi army's Basra Operations Command told Anadolu Agency that the arrests had been made in Basra’s ​​northern Ezzedine Salim district.

Those arrested, he said, had taken part in a Tuesday sit-in outside Basra’s West Qurna 2 Oilfield.

According to Khalaf, one sit-in participant died on Wednesday from injuries he sustained when security forces dispersed protesters who had tried to storm the oilfield one day earlier.

Since July 9, Iraq’s majority-Shia southern provinces -- especially oil-rich Basra -- have been rocked by protests to demand more job opportunities and improved public services.

In an effort to contain the demonstrations, which last month spread to capital Baghdad, the government has vowed to provide more public-sector jobs and allocate funds for local development projects.

Protest leaders, however, have expressed doubt as to the government’s ability to adequately address protesters’ grievances.

For years, Iraq’s political opposition has complained of poor public services in a country that earns tens of billions of dollars a year through oil sales.