BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Protesters stormed the Iranian consulate in Iraq’s southern oil hub Basra on Friday, local security sources said.

The consulate is in the upscale neighborhood of al-Barda’iya, southeast of the city center.

Demonstrators have targeted local government buildings and political party offices since protests intensified on Monday.</s>Demonstrators stormed the Iranian consulate in Iraq on Friday, in protest of corruption and misrule by Iraq's political elite. The angry protesters damaged the consulate's offices and shouted anti-Iranian slogans while others briefly took workers hostage at a nearby oilfield.

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After five days of deadly demonstrations in the southern city of Basra, in which government buildings have been ransacked and set alight, protesters broke in and damaged the consulate's offices, shouting condemnation of what many perceive as Iran's sway over Iraq's political affairs.

Demonstrators storm the Iranian consulate in Iraq (Photo: AFP)

Security sources said the consulate was empty when the crowd burst in. Iraq's Foreign Ministry said the storming of the consulate, which it deeply regretted, had nothing to do with protesters' demands.

"The targeting of diplomatic missions is unacceptable and detrimental to the interests of Iraq," said ministry spokesman Ahmed Mahjoub.

Iran, however, blamed Iraq for failing to protect its embassy and said it expected Baghdad to "identify and punish the attackers quickly," Bahram Qassemi, the spokesman for the ministry, told journalists, according to state media.

The Iraqi ambassador to Tehran was later summoned to the foreign ministry over the complaints.

Angry protesters storm the Iranian consulate in southern Iraq (צילום: רויטרס)

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Several foreign governments have consulates in the city, including the United States and Russia. In a statement, the US State Department condemned the violence against diplomats and called on "all parties, including security forces and protesters, to uphold the right of peaceful protest and to protect diplomats and their facilities."

Late in the day some 65 kilometers north-west of Iraq's second biggest city, another group of protesters entered a water treatment facility linked to the West Qurna 2 oilfield, managed by Russia's Lukoil.

The protesters held two Iraqi employees hostage for about an hour before leaving the facility peacefully, according to a Lukoil source and a source with Basra's energy police. Production was not disrupted, a manager at the oilfield said.

The unrest in Basra could have deeper implications for a country that imports most of its food.

Protesters shouting anti-Iranian slogans (Photo: EPA)

Since Thursday, protesters have shut Iraq's only major sea port at Umm Qasr, 60 km (40 miles) south of Basra. It remained shut on Friday, local officials and security sources said, although oil exports, carried out from offshore platforms, have not been affected.

Sweep clean

Residents say they have been driven to the streets by corruption that allowed infrastructure to collapse, leaving no power or safe drinking water in the heat of summer, with protests intensifying on Monday.

Since then at least 12 demonstrators have died in the city of 2 million, mostly in clashes with security forces, as demonstrators torched government buildings and the offices of political parties, whose leaders are all vying to form Iraq's ruling coalition.

On Friday, two protesters died from gunshot wounds and 39 were wounded, local health and security sources said. A curfew was imposed shortly before 9pm local time, but residents still targeted a building belonging to Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, the grouping of mostly Iran-backed Shi'ite militias.

Iraqi protesters set fire to Iran consulate (Photo: Reuters)

The national security council of the Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, met on Friday and said it was investigating casualties at the protests.

The storming of the consulate came hours after Iraq's most revered Shi'ite cleric called for a political shakeup in Baghdad and a halt to violence against the protesters.

Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the ultimate authority for devout members of Iraq's Shi'ite majority who normally holds himself above day-to-day politics, placed blame for the unrest with political leaders and said a new government should be formed, "different from its predecessors."

Smaller protests also took place on Friday in other cities in Iraq, including Karbala and Baghdad.

New crisis

The unrest has thrust Iraq into a major new crisis at a time when politicians have yet to agree on a new government after an inconclusive election in May. The new parliament finally met on Monday for the first time, but broke up after a day having failed to elect a speaker, much less name the next prime minister.

Parliament's interim leader summoned lawmakers to an emergency session on Saturday to discuss the unrest.

Leading political figures, embroiled in government formation negotiations in Baghdad, have scrambled to respond to the crisis, condemning rivals for inaction.

Demonstrations in the southern Iraqi city, Basra (Photo: AP)

Iraq's political factions mainly came together in the past four years during a war against Islamic State. Baghdad's two most influential allies, Washington and Tehran, also backed the government despite their deep hostility to each other.

But since Islamic State was largely defeated last year, divisions have resurfaced. Shi'ites in the south, where most of Iraq's oil wealth is produced, say Baghdad politicians have squandered state funds while leaving them desperate.

Moqtada al-Sadr, a populist Shi'ite cleric whose electoral bloc came first in May's election, said on Twitter that Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi must release more funds for Basra.

Sadr, the former leader of an anti-American Shi'ite sectarian militia who has reinvented himself as an anti-corruption campaigner, has allied himself with prime minister Abadi.

Their alliance is competing to form a government against a rival bloc backed by Abadi's predecessor Nuri al-Maliki and the leader of an Iran-backed Shi'ite armed group, Hadi al-Amiri. Amiri called on Abadi to resign over the crisis on Friday.</s>BASRA, Iraq, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Protesters stormed the Iranian consulate in Iraq’s southern oil hub Basra on Friday, local security sources said.

The consulate is in the upscale neighborhood of al-Barda’iya, southeast of the city centre.

Demonstrators have targeted local government buildings and political party offices since protests intensified on Monday. (Reporting by Aref Mohammed; writing by Raya Jalabi; Editing by Andrew Heavens)</s>Protesters have stormed the Iranian consulate in Iraq's southern city of Basra, setting a fire inside as part of deadly demonstrations against a lack of services and jobs in which several government buildings have been ransacked and torched.

Demonstrators on Friday broke in and began destroying the offices, shouting condemnation of what many Iraqis perceive as Tehran's interference with Iraqi politics.

The consulate was reportedly empty when the crowd burst in.

Following the burning of the consulate, Iran denied reports that its citizens were asked to leave Basra.

Talking to the government-backed news agency Fars, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bahram Ghassemi said Iranian nationals were not being told to leave Basra.

Later on Friday, Iraqi security officials announced a citywide curfew in Basra, warning that "anyone present in the street" would be arrested.

Several protesters have died, mostly in clashes with the security forces, since Monday in Basra, a city of two million people.

Residents say they have been driven to the streets by corruption and misrule that allowed infrastructure to collapse, leaving no power or safe drinking water in the heat of summer.

According to Marwan Kabalan, director of policy analysis at Doha Institute, the protests show a growing dissatisfaction with Iran's influence in Iraq.

"Those who have been running the country for the last fifteen years have actually been Iranian allies," Kabalan told Al Jazeera.

"The people are protesting against these elites that are backed by Iran and they're protesting against Iranian influence in the south of Iraq," he added.

"Iran has also cut the electricity supply recently claiming Iraq has not been able to pay for the electricity, which is another reason people have directed their anger towards Iran," Kabalan said.

Chances of imminent change are small, however, according to Kabalan.

"We need major reform in Iraq before we see any improvement, but perhaps these protests will perhaps encourage political fires to resist Iranian influence more in the country."

The storming of the consulate on Friday came hours after Iraq's most revered Shia cleric called for a political shakeup in the capital, Baghdad, and a halt to violence against the protesters.

Ayatollah Ali Sistani placed blame for the unrest with political leaders and said a new government should be formed.

"The failings of Iraqi political leaders in recent years have caused the anger of people in Basra," Sistani said.

"This reality cannot change if the next government is formed according to the same criteria adopted when forming previous governments. Pressure must be exerted for the new government to be different from its predecessors."

Parliament's interim leader meanwhile summoned legislators to an emergency session on Saturday to discuss the unrest.

Basra has been the epicentre of protests that have rocked Iraq since July, with anger fuelled by pollution of the water supply that left 30,000 people in hospital

In recent days, crowds have attacked the offices of the state-run Iraqiya TV and set fire to the headquarters of the ruling Dawa Party, the Supreme Islamic Council and the Badr Organisation, whose leaders are all vying to form Iraq's ruling coalition.

Protesters also torched the offices of a powerful Shia armed group, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, and those of the Hikma Movement, and stormed the house of the acting head of the provincial council.

Rights activists have accused security forces of opening fire on the demonstrators, while the government has blamed provocateurs in the crowds and say the troops were ordered not to use live rounds.

Public anger has grown at a time when politicians are struggling to form a new government after an inconclusive parliamentary election in May.

Residents of the south complain of decades of neglect in the region that produces the bulk of Iraq's oil wealth.</s>Anti-government protesters in Iraq set fire to the Iranian consulate in the southern city of Basra on Friday, as the week's demonstrations turned violent.

The protesters have called for an end to Iran's influence and to the Iraqi government's dysfunction. They demanded jobs and basic public services. Thousands of residents in the oil-rich region have grown ill from contaminated water, according to health officials, and the electricity has cut out amid temperatures in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Outraged demonstrators torched the Iranian consulate after security forces withdrew, as NPR's Jane Arraf reported. Earlier in the week, they burned the offices of a major Iran-linked militia, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, and an Iran-backed political party.

They also set fire to the city's provincial government headquarters, blocked the entrance to the country's main port of Umm Qasr and set up roadblocks on the highway from Basra to Baghdad, port officials said.

Other civilians held two Iraqi workers hostage at an oilfield outside of the city, Reuters reported.

In the midst of the chaos, some protesters died when security forces allegedly opened fire to disperse the crowds. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he instructed security forces not to use live ammunition and flew to Basra earlier this week, ordering an investigation into the protests.

Iraq's foreign ministry expressed "deep regret" over the attack on the consulate and called on local authorities to protect diplomatic missions.

Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed the Iraqi government, calling it "responsible for security oversight leading to attack on its consulate," according to the Iranian government's Press TV. It added that "Iran calls for maximum penalty for rioters."

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who celebrated an electoral victory in May, had his own message for Abadi, according to CNN: "I hope you don't think that the Basra revolutionaries are just a bubble ... quickly release Basra's money and give it to clean hands to start at once with immediate and future development projects."

The U.S. Consulate General in Basra‎ conveyed its "deep concern about the violence" in a Facebook message. It called on the Iraqi government to investigate allegations of excessive force and said it would "continue to support the Iraqi people and their government in their efforts to reform the economy, fight corruption, create jobs, and provide the services that the Iraqi people deserve."

Years of corruption and militia control have crumbled the city's infrastructure, and Iraqi politicians have struggled to form a coalition government since parliamentary elections in May.

Iraq's Minister of Water Resources traveled to Basra on Thursday and trucks containing water were sent to the province, according to official media.

The interim head of parliament plans to convene an emergency meeting on Saturday, Reuters reported.

The unrest in Basra comes as the Trump administration seeks to exert pressure in Iran by stemming its oil revenues and reimposing sanctions.</s>Basra, Sep 7: Protesters stormed the Iranian Cconsulate in Iraq's southern oil hub Basra on Friday, according to the local reports.

At least 10 protesters have died since Monday in Basra, a city of 2 million people where residents have torched government buildings and political party offices and clashed with security forces.

On Thursday demonstrators escalated the unrest by shutting down Umm Qasr, Iraq's only big sea port, 60 km south of Basra, which handles the vast majority of imports into a country dependent on food bought abroad to feed its 37 million citizens.</s>Protesters in this port city stormed the Iranian Consulate late Friday, setting it on fire and sharply escalating violent demonstrations that began over miserable living conditions but have grown into an indictment of Iraq’s stagnant politics.

The consulate was the latest symbol of entrenched power to be torched by protesters in Basra during a week of demonstrations, raising concerns that the unrest would draw a firm response from Iran, which controls several powerful militias in the oil-export city.

The attack on the consulate also upended notions of solidarity between Iraq’s Shiite heartland and Iran, the preeminent Shiite power in the region. The assault contributed to a growing sense that Iraq is slipping into a period of dangerous instability as powerful political parties remain locked in a struggle over the composition of the country’s next government.

Protesters said they targeted the consulate to vent their frustrations over abuses by Iran-backed militias in Basra, as well what they see as Tehran’s outsize influence over their city and over Iraq’s fractured politics.

The demonstrators complained that the militias run rampant in Basra, kidnapping and extorting money from their opponents and creating an atmosphere of fear. They said Iran has empowered the militias to enrich themselves at the expense of the city’s residents.

“Iran has destabilized Basra with their armed gangs,” said Sattar Hamdi, 50, a day laborer. “They have the upper hand here and with the politicians in Baghdad. I’m appealing to any foreign country, even Israel, for help because we’ve already lost Iraq to Iran.”

Protests over a lack of electricity and clean water during the scorching summer months began in early July in Basra and other Shiite-majority cities but have grown larger and more violent in recent days as politicians have failed to form a national government nearly four months after elections in May.

Iran and the United States have been deeply involved in the political gridlock, each supporting rival factions that claim a parliamentary majority and the right to appoint a new prime minister.

People in Basra have accused Iraq’s political class of abandoning them, ignoring the people’s pleas for relief as the politicians jockey for control of a new government. They have expressed their displeasure by burning down the headquarters of nearly every political party in the city, along with offices belonging to Shiite militias that won parliamentary seats in the May elections.

Fresh graffiti outside the destroyed offices of the powerful Badr Organization, an Iran-aligned party that counts Iraq’s interior minister among its senior leaders, announced: “We demand blood.”

Packs of young men surrounded the gated complex of the Iranian Consulate as the sun set on Friday, breaking past police checkpoints as they smashed their way into the empty building and set it on fire.

Dozens lingered afterward, taking photos and videos of the burning consulate as police stood by — sometimes chatting or joking with the young demonstrators.

Police had repelled an attack on the consulate Thursday night but were overwhelmed by the growing number of young men Friday, one officer said. He said he was hesitant to draw his weapon on the protesters after at least eight were shot during other demonstrations this week, drawing widespread condemnation from the government and from the United Nations and human rights groups.

“Visa services are officially suspended,” cracked one of the demonstrators as he filmed the flames and dark plumes of smoke with his cellphone.

“Shall we go for the Turkish Consulate next?” a friend responded.

A group of protesters gathered around a young man who clutched papers he said he stole from a city council building that purported to show thousands of dollars in allocations to various city officials.

“They’re being given a fortune, but we can’t even get clean water from the taps,” the man shouted.

Iraq’s Health Ministry said Thursday that 6,280 people have been sickened by the water in Basra, which residents have said is too salty for drinking or cleaning.

Protesters have said they were moved to action by the city’s undrinkable water and crumbling infrastructure, bitterly noting that Basra is the top export hub for Iraq’s oil yet remains one of the country’s least developed cities.

After Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s government failed to respond to their demands in July, protesters began to rally against Iraq’s endemic corruption and the political figures that have dominated the country since the 2003 invasion by U.S. troops.

Hussein Hatem, 33, a welder, said that torching the Iranian Consulate was a message to Iran’s and Iraq’s leaders alike that Basra “does not belong to anyone.”

“Our government takes orders from Iran,” he said. “And no one is looking after us. We’ve run out of patience. They’re busy trying to form the biggest bloc in parliament and they can’t fulfill the most basic demand for clean water.”

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on the consulate, saying the assault harms Iraq’s interests and is unrelated to demonstrators’ demands for basic services and clean water.

It was the latest security embarrassment for the ministry in two days. Late Thursday, three mortar rounds landed in an empty field near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone. There were no injuries, and no group asserted responsibility for the incident.

Meanwhile, Basra is settling into a new rhythm.

During the day, diverse groups of protesters, including many women, chant against government corruption and unemployment, occupying major squares and boulevards to demonstrate peacefully.

As day gives way to night, large columns of young men in their teens and 20s take over the streets, stopping traffic as they walk swiftly or jog to any symbol of government power they can find to vandalize.

Despite the daytime protests and nighttime disturbances, residents go about their business, sipping tea in cafes or window-shopping at brightly lighted stores. On occasion, they step aside to make way for the clutches of young men chanting slogans such as “Iran, out, out!” and “If we die, we die, as long as the nation survives.”

Deadly protests rage in Iraq over lack of services as political transition deadlocks

How Moqtada al-Sadr went from anti-American outlaw to potential kingmaker in Iraq

U.S. sanctions on Iran hit an unintended target: Ordinary Iraqis

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news</s>Angry protesters stormed the Iranian consulate in the southern city of Basra on Friday, setting a fire inside amid a wave of demonstrations that have turned deadly in the past few days, a security official and eyewitnesses said.

At least 10 protesters have died in clashes with security forces since Monday, including three who were shot dead by security forces Thursday night as protesters lobbed Molotov cocktails and set fire to a government building and offices of Shiite militias in the city.

The protests in Basra and other cities, the most serious to shake Iraq’s oil-rich southern Shiite heartland in years, have since July been calling for an end to endemic corruption, soaring joblessness and poor public services. Clashes erupted earlier this week, leaving several civilians and police dead. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered an investigation into the violence, which shows no sign of abating.

The violence prompted the temporary head of Iraq’s parliament, the eldest lawmaker, to call an emergency meeting today to discuss the snowballing protests.

The protesters shouted anti-Iranian slogans outside the Iranian consulate Friday evening, including “Iran, out, out!” before they stormed it and set a fire inside. Smoke could be seen rising from the building. Protesters also burned an Iranian flag.</s>Tehran, Sep 8 (IANS) Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the attack on its consulate in Iraq’s southern city of Basra.

The attackers on Friday “brutally” set Iran’s consulate ablaze, causing serious damage, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported.

However, none of the staff members was hurt, he said, adding that the consulate had taken preemptive measures after it received threats a day earlier.

The Iranian spokesman demanded the Iraqi government take responsibility for protecting Iranian diplomatic missions, and urged it to identify and punish the elements behind the “serious crime”.

Protesters torched the Iranian consulate in Basra amid mass rallies against corruption and lack of basic services.</s>BASRA/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Protesters stormed the Iranian consulate in Iraq’s southern city of Basra on Friday, turning their wrath on Iraq’s powerful neighbor after five days of deadly demonstrations in which government buildings have been ransacked and torched.

Demonstrators broke in and began damaging the offices, shouting condemnation of what many Iraqis perceive as Iran’s sway over Iraq’s political parties. Security sources said the consulate was empty when the crowd burst in.

The storming came hours after Iraq’s most revered Shi’ite cleric called for a political shakeup in Baghdad and a halt to violence against the protesters.

Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the ultimate authority for devout members of Iraq’s Shi’ite majority, placed blame for the unrest with political leaders and said a new government should be formed, “different from its predecessors”.

At least 10 protesters have died, mostly in clashes with the security forces, since Monday in Basra, a city of 2 million people. Residents say they have been driven to the streets by corruption and misrule that allowed infrastructure to collapse, leaving no power or safe drinking water in the heat of summer.

The unrest could have deeper implications for a country that imports most of its food. Since Thursday protesters have shut Iraq’s only major sea port at Umm Qasr, 60 km (40 miles) south of Basra. It remained shut on Friday, local officials and security sources said, although oil exports, carried out from offshore platforms, have not been affected.

Smaller protests in solidarity with Basra took place in several other cities including Karbala and Baghdad.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s national security council met on Friday and said it was investigating casualties at the protests. Abadi, under pressure to promise more money to fix Basra’s public services, said funds that had previously been allocated would be released.

More than 2,000 people, including many women, gathered in Basra on Friday afternoon, to mourn a protester who died from burns during the torching of the provincial government headquarters overnight.

Mourners carried the body from his house through the streets to the singed government building, chanting: “This is a promise, this is a promise, Basra won’t stay silent anymore!” Some fired live rounds into the air. Others carried broomsticks, to “sweep clean” corrupt officials. Protesters set fire to what remained of the government buildings torched the night before.

The unrest has thrust Iraq into a major new crisis at a time when politicians still have yet to agree a new government after an inconclusive election in May. The new parliament finally met on Monday for the first time, but broke up after a day with no faction assembling enough votes to elect a speaker, much less name the next prime minister.

Sistani, an 88-year-old cleric who normally holds himself above day-to-day politics, has been known to intervene in political affairs when he sees the country’s future in danger.

In his Friday prayer sermon read out by an aide he demanded an end to the use of violence against “peaceful protests” and placed the blame firmly on politicians.

“The failings of Iraqi political leaders in recent years have caused the anger of people in Basra,” Sistani said. “This reality cannot change if the next government is formed according to the same criteria adopted when forming previous governments. Pressure must be exerted for the new government to be different from its predecessors.”

Parliament’s interim leader summoned lawmakers to an emergency session on Saturday to discuss the unrest.

The past four years saw Iraq’s political factions mainly come together during a war against Islamic State. Baghdad’s two most influential allies, Washington and Tehran, also backed the government despite their deep hostility to each other.

But since Islamic State was largely defeated last year, divisions have resurfaced. Shi’ites in the south, where most of Iraq’s oil wealth is produced, say Baghdad politicians have squandered state funds while leaving them desperate.

Moqtada al-Sadr, a populist Shi’ite cleric whose electoral bloc came first in May’s election, said on Twitter that Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi must release more funds for Basra.

Sadr, the former leader of an anti-American Shi’ite sectarian militia who has reinvented himself as an anti-corruption campaigner, has allied himself with Abadi.

Their alliance is competing to form a government against a rival bloc backed by Abadi’s predecessor Nuri al-Maliki and the leader of an Iran-backed Shi’ite armed group, Hadi al-Amiri. Amiri called on Abadi to resign over the crisis on Friday.
Protesters storm the Iranian consulate in Basra, in protest of corruption and misrule by Iraq's political elite, damaging the consulate's offices and shouting anti-Iranian slogans while others briefly take workers hostage at a nearby oilfield.