BAGHDAD — A protest over electricity shortages in oil-rich southern Iraq turned deadly when police opened fire to disperse the crowd Saturday, killing one protester amid growing anger over the government’s failure to provide basic services.
More than 3,000 protesters marched through Basra, which suffers from searing summer temperatures that can reach 120 degrees and high humidity. They carried banners and chanted angry slogans demanding a solution to the power cuts that persist despite billions of dollars in reconstruction money since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
It was a scene that has become more frequent across the nation as patience wears thin among Iraqis struggling to cope with less than six hours of electricity a day.
But the demonstration turned violent when protesters started throwing stones and advanced on the Basra provincial council building, setting fire to a guard’s cabin and prompting government security forces to fire into the air to disperse the crowd.
Iraq’s electrical woes have long been a source of discontent among the public, with Iraqi families forced to spend more than $50 a month on private generators to make up for the frequent power outages. But many can’t afford the cost, leading them to pilfer electricity from other buildings and government offices.
The decline of the electrical grid began during the 1991 Gulf War, when it was targeted by U.S. warplanes. Facilities were further damaged during the 2003 invasion and the subsequent looting and insurgent attacks.
U.S. Army engineers tried to fix the grid immediately after Saddam Hussein’s ouster, but the effort foundered in the face of barely operating power plants suffering from years of neglect brought on by wars and U.N. trade sanctions.
Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, has an average of less than two hours of electricity a day, according to Ziyad Ali, head of the provincial council’s electricity committee. Without even fans to cool them people spend exhausting, sleepless nights on their roofs or in their gardens to escape the heat.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
