Security forces disperse demonstration in Iraq’s Basra

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD (AA) - Security forces on Thursday forcibly dispersed a sit-in held in Iraq’s southern Basra province to protest high unemployment and inadequate public services after demonstrators blocked a road leading to a major oilfield, according to a local military source.

“Joint security forces dispersed a sit-in held by dozens of demonstrators outside northern Basra’s West Qurna 2 oilfield,” Army Lieutenant Mohamed Khalaf told Anadolu Agency.

According to Khalaf, security forces were forced to intervene after protesters blocked the road leading to the oilfield -- which is operated by Russian energy giant Lukoil -- with burning tires and other obstacles.

Security forces, Khalaf said, had used batons to disperse demonstrators, injuring three of them in the process.

The road was reopened shortly afterward, he said.

Ongoing protests in southern Iraq -- which erupted earlier this month and have since spread to the capital -- have reportedly left 14 people dead and more than 700 injured.