Iraqi PM Abadi allocates $3 billion to quell Basra protests

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has earmarked 3.5 trillion IQD – just under $3 billion – to support the province’s chronically underfunded services after protests turned violent in Basra and spread to other Iraqi cities.

Iraq’s interior minister has declared state of emergency. A night-time curfew has been imposed on Basra, and security forces have been deployed to several neighborhoods in Baghdad – fearing similar unrest could strike the capital.

Facebook and other online services were disrupted for several hours on Saturday evening. According to Kurdish authorities, the social media shutdown was decreed by the federal government.

Protests have already spread to Karbala, where demonstrators stormed the provincial council office on Saturday night.

Abadi has also ordered the dismantling of Najaf airport managing authority after protesters stormed the terminal building on Friday.

Najaf’s power was completely blacked out on Saturday night, according to reports.

“These protests are the result of the eroding of hope. People have no faith that there is going to be an improvement of the situation. Though, leaders have promised, but none of them have been fulfilled,” Raed Fahmi, a leader of the Iraqi Communist Party, told Rudaw.

“The only solution whereby the government can mitigate the concerns and protests of people in the provinces where demonstration are ongoing is the restoration of electricity and water to them.”

Fahmi condemned the decision to put security forces on alert, warning the protests may take a “political dimension”.

Rudaw’s Mustafa Goran in Basra says protesters plan a major demonstration early on Sunday. They are urging security forces deployed to the city to withdraw.

Iraq’s southern province of Basra provides the bulk of the country’s revenues, but protesters who have taken to the street over the past week say they aren’t seeing any of its benefits. They are demanding basic services like water and electricity.

Basra is Iraq’s main producer of oil – the resource that accounts for at least 85 percent of the government’s revenue. It is also a major gateway to the outside world – home to Iraq's only seaport.

Iraqi PM Abadi allocates $3 billion to quell Basra protests

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