{"id":13879,"date":"2018-09-04T21:24:20","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T21:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=13879"},"modified":"2018-09-04T21:24:20","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T21:24:20","slug":"six-killed-as-armed-protesters-storm-basra-government-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=13879","title":{"rendered":"Six killed as armed protesters storm Basra government building"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBAGHDAD: Six demonstrators were shot dead and many others wounded when armed protesters stormed a\u00a0local government building\u00a0in Basra on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\nSecurity forces responded by firing live bullets and tear gas, police and medical sources told Arab News. At least 39 people were wounded, including many from the security forces.<\/p>\n

\nA curfew was imposed across the city on Tuesday night as authorities tried to stem the violence.<\/p>\n

\nBasra, Iraq\u2019s main oil hub,\u00a0was the cradle of widespread protests over the summer. The demonstrations started over electricity shortages and quickly targeted corruption, poverty and a lack of jobs.<\/p>\n

\nThe security situation deteriorated significantly after a demonstrator was shot dead on Monday and another was seriously injured.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe heads of Basra\u2019s tribes on Tuesday threatened to retaliate and target all government installations and oil companies in the province if the commander of the Basra security operations was not sacked and his forces replaced.<\/p>\n

\nAssaib Ahl Al-Haq, one of the most prominent Shiite armed factions, also threatened to clash with security forces.<\/p>\n

\nMore than 17 demonstrators have already been killed by gunfire since the protests started in June and spread to clashes with security forces across Iraq. Three of them were killed in Basra.<\/p>\n

\nMakki Yasser Al-Kaabi was killed by a bullet to the chest on Monday evening after the security forces opened fire and used tear gas to disperse demonstrators who tried to storm the local government building in central Basra. Another seven demonstrators were injured, one of them critically.<\/p>\n

\nThe security forces have been on high alert amid signs that the tribes would escalate the situation and target government installations, local security officials told Arab News.<\/p>\n

\nOn Tuesday evening, hundreds of demonstrators, some of them using Molotov cocktails and hand grenades again tried to storm the\u00a0 local government building. Security forces deployed around opened fire, witnesses told Arab News.<\/p>\n

\nEarlier, thousands of Basra\u2019s people took to streets for the funeral of Al-Kaabi, whose coffin was wrapped in the Iraqi flag.<\/p>\n

\nVideo footage showed the mourners marching and led by red flag bearers representing the names of the clans attending the funeral.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nOther banners showed photos of Al-Kaabi with some indicating that he was a member of s Shiite armed faction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe mourner were chanting \u201cno for the corrupt government\u201d and \u201cNo for the (political) parties \u2026 the blood of Kaabi will not be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe mourners\u00a0 walked several kilometers before they arrived at the local government building, where some tried to storm the main gate where troops were deployed.<\/p>\n

\nOthers began to throw stones at the security forces. Police fired into the air and launched\u00a0 tear gas as the majority of the mourners fled.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWhy was he killed?\u201d asked one of Al-Kaabi\u2019s relatives. \u201cHe did not do anything wrong. He was just asking to get drinking water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nBasra is the home of Iraq\u2019s largest oilfields and the revenues of its crude exports represent the backbone of Iraq\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\nBut the province suffers from extended power outages and polluted and saline drinking water. Hospitals reported more than 17,000 cases related to contaminated drinking water last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe security problems will affect the work of hundreds of domestic and foreign oil companies operating in Basra.<\/p>\n

\nThe head of Al-Kaabi\u2019s tribe and many other\u00a0 tribal leaders have threatened to hit the oil facilities and government institutions in the province if the government did not expel Maj. Gen Jamil Al-Shimari, the commander of Basra military operations.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHe is wanted for the tribes as he is involved in killing and injuring their sons. We are demanding to fire him and expel him from Basra,\u201d one of Al-Kaabi\u2019s tribal chiefs said tried to persuade demonstrators not to attack the security forces on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BAGHDAD: Six demonstrators were shot dead and many others wounded when armed protesters stormed a\u00a0local government building\u00a0in Basra on Tuesday. Security forces responded by firing live bullets and tear gas, police and medical sources told Arab News. At least 39 people were wounded, including many from the security forces. A curfew was imposed across the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":13880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}