Basra oil field protest: Force used against protesters

Shafaq News/ On Sunday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside an oil field in Iraq's Basra province, demanding jobs for local residents, while security forces attempted to “forcibly” disperse them.

Hassan Wamid, a representative of unemployed engineers in Al-Sadiq district, north of Basra, told Shafaq News Agency that many of the protesters at West Qurna 1 oil field were engineers whose names had been included in a list of 1,000 job vacancies but had yet to be formally hired.

“The local government had previously met with us and promised immediate solutions within a month, yet no serious steps have been taken,” Wamid said.

Despite being forcibly dispersed by security forces with batons and sticks, protests would continue at West Qurna 1 after previously being held at the West Qurna 2 site, the representative asserted, vowing that the “demonstrators would not back down until their demands were met.”

Basra has frequently seen protests over job shortages, particularly at oil fields and ports. In February, demonstrators blocked entrances to the Rumaila oil field in a similar demonstration.