{"id":14181,"date":"2018-09-07T08:24:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T08:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=14181"},"modified":"2018-09-07T08:24:15","modified_gmt":"2018-09-07T08:24:15","slug":"iraqs-sadr-urges-radical-solutions-after-deadly-unrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=14181","title":{"rendered":"Iraq\u2019s Sadr urges \u2018radical\u2019 solutions after deadly unrest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBAGHDAD: Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr has called for \u201cradical\u201d solutions to a health crisis which has sparked mass rallies and left seven protesters dead this week.<\/p>\n

\nThousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in the southern city of Basra, angry at pollution of the water supply which has put 30,000 people in hospital.<\/p>\n

\nSeven demonstrators have been killed in clashes with security forces since Tuesday, while protesters set fire to part of the provincial government headquarters.<\/p>\n

\nSadr, whose political bloc won the largest number of seats in May elections, on Thursday called for a special parliamentary session to address protesters\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n

\nPrime Minister Haider Abadi, along with the ministers of interior, health, housing, water resources and electricity, must all attend along with officials from Basra province, Sadr said.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe will be uncompromising and you have been warned, be ready,\u201d said Sadr, whose successful campaign in the May election focused on tackling Iraq\u2019s endemic corruption.<\/p>\n

\nPoliticians must present \u201cradical and immediate\u201d solutions at the meeting or step down if they fail to do so, he said.<\/p>\n

\nAbadi responded shortly afterwards, saying he was \u201cready to attend a parliamentary session with the ministers and officials concerned, to discuss the situation and the needs of Basra province.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe premier is trying to hold onto his post in the future government through forming an alliance with Sadr, a former militia chief who has called for Iraq to have greater political independence from Iran and the US.<\/p>\n

\nDespite Iraq holding elections nearly five months ago, Parliament reconvened for the first time on Monday after claims of fraud triggered a vote recount.<\/p>\n

\nThe session was brief and lawmakers are not scheduled to meet again until Sept. 15, in order to allow the various political blocs time to agree on alliances and on a candidate for parliamentary speaker.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nElectricity shortages<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nAhead of Abadi and other top officials meeting to discuss the social unrest, Sadr called for \u201cprotests expressing anger peacefully\u201d in Basra and said plans for such rallies would be announced soon.<\/p>\n

\nAs well as the water supply, demonstrators have protested against incompetent officials who have failed to tackle chronic electricity shortages and high unemployment in their oil-rich but marginalized province.<\/p>\n

\nAt least 22 people have been killed in demonstrations since they erupted in Basra on July 8, before spreading across southern Iraq.<\/p>\n

\nProtesters stormed and set fire to a provincial government building in Basra, despite a curfew imposed by authorities on Thursday to try and quell demonstrations.<\/p>\n

\nThe protests showed no sign of abating Thursday evening as hundreds of young men took to the streets, shouting: \u201cPeaceful, peaceful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nSeveral government buildings have been attacked in the past few days of protests that have spread throughout the city.<\/p>\n

\nA provincial official with state-run Iraqi Ports Co. said authorities closed the vital Um Qasr port on the Arabian Gulf since late Wednesday, fearing sabotage. The official would not say when operations will resume.<\/p>\n

\nBrig. Gen. Saad Maan, Interior Ministry spokesman, announced a curfew in Basra starting at 3 p.m. on Thursday, citing \u201cintelligence reports of possible attacks on government offices.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe government has said the protesters\u2019 demands are legitimate, while blaming the violence on saboteurs. The curfew announcement was ignored.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr has called for \u201cradical\u201d solutions to a health crisis which has sparked mass rallies and left seven protesters dead this week. Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in the southern city of Basra, angry at pollution of the water supply which has put 30,000 people in hospital.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":14182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14181","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\/14181","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=14181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}