{"id":14303,"date":"2018-09-08T09:23:01","date_gmt":"2018-09-08T09:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=14303"},"modified":"2018-09-08T09:23:01","modified_gmt":"2018-09-08T09:23:01","slug":"iraq-vows-severe-response-after-attack-on-iran-consulate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=14303","title":{"rendered":"Iraq vows ‘severe’ response after attack on Iran consulate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi<\/a> has ordered an investigation into deadly violence in the southern city of Basra after protesters stormed the Iranian consulate there.<\/p>\n

Al-Abadi said late on Friday that he had instructed security forces to act decisively against the “acts of vandalism” that accompanied the demonstrations.<\/p>\n

The order came after protesters set fire to the Iranian consulate on Friday as part of weeks-long demonstrations over poor services and lack of jobs.<\/p>\n

At least 12 people have\u00a0been killed in Basra since Tuesday, according to the health ministry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Separately on Saturday, three Katyusha rockets struck the perimeter of the city’s airport, but did not disrupt operations or cause damage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, which includes the army and police, said on Friday there would be a “severe” response with “exceptional security measures”, including banning protests and group travel.<\/p>\n

Security officials have announced a city-wide curfew in Basra, a city of two million, warning that “anyone in the street” would be arrested.<\/p>\n

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WATCH: Iraqi protest against unsafe water in Basra (2:29<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

‘Unacceptable’<\/h2>\n

Basra has been the epicentre of protests that have\u00a0<\/span>rocked Iraq since July<\/a>, with anger fuelled by\u00a0<\/span>pollution of the water supply<\/a>\u00a0that left 30,000 people in hospital.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Protests intensified earlier this week, causing several deaths as demonstrators torched government buildings, as well as political party and armed group offices.<\/p>\n

On Friday, thousands of people rallied outside the Iranian consulate in Basra, shouting anti-Iran<\/a> slogans and condemning what they perceived as Tehran’s interference in their country’s politics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The building was reportedly empty when the crowd burst in and set it alight<\/a>, and no staff were hurt.<\/p>\n

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said the storming of the consulate, which it deeply regretted, had nothing to do with protesters’ demands.<\/p>\n

“The targeting of diplomatic missions is unacceptable and detrimental to the interests of Iraq,” said ministry spokesman Ahmed Mahjoub.<\/p>\n

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Bahram Qassemi, blamed Iraq for failing to protect the building and said Baghdad had to “identify and punish the attackers quickly.”<\/p>\n

The Iraqi ambassador to Tehran was also summoned to the foreign ministry.<\/p>\n

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The Iranian consulate was reportedly empty when it was torched\u00a0[Haider Mohammed Ali\/AFP]<\/span>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Several foreign governments have consulates in Basra, including the United States<\/a> and Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the US State Department condemned the violence and called on all parties “to uphold the right of peaceful protest and to protect diplomats and their facilities”.<\/p>\n

Iran’s influence\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Abbas Kadhim, a professor at George Washington University, told Al Jazeera that protesters hold Iranian-backed political parties responsible for mismanagement and poor services in the city.<\/p>\n

“The anger is directed in every direction, against all,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There is a lot of Iranian influence among Basra groups, whether they are in local politics or in the social groups, including the fighting groups,” he said.<\/p>\n

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Protesters torched the Iranian consulate in Basra as part of protests over poor public services [Haider Mohammed Ali\/AFP]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The unrest comes at a politically volatile time for Iraq, with lawmakers still trying to form a new government, after an inconclusive election in May.<\/p>\n

The new parliament finally met<\/a> on Monday for the first time, but broke up a day later having failed to elect a speaker, much less name the next prime minister.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered an investigation into deadly violence in the southern city of Basra after protesters stormed the Iranian consulate there. Al-Abadi said late on Friday that he had instructed security forces to act decisively against the “acts of vandalism” that accompanied the demonstrations. The order came after protesters set fire…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":14304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14303","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\/14303","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=14303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}