Shafaq News- Basra

Protests resumed in Iraq’s oil-rich southern province of Basra on Saturday, as movements across its northern districts and subdistricts formed a new union to press the government over service and reconstruction demands.

Haitham Al-Mansouri, a protest movement leader, told Shafaq News that the newly formed Northern Basra Protest Movements Union presented five demands: infrastructure projects, a general hospital, a reconstruction fund, a government committee to assess local needs, and completion of the Basra-Qurna road.

The union, he added, had given the government time to respond, warning that failure to meet the demands would lead to “mass demonstrations,” including the closure of roads and oil fields.

Basra, Iraq’s second-largest province, has witnessed recurring civic and political campaigns demanding improved public services, greater administrative autonomy, accountability for service failures, and constitutional amendments to increase the province’s share of oil revenues.

Read more: Discover Iraq: Basra, a city between wealth and withering