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File Photo: Umm Qasr commodities port of Iraq[/caption]
GFMM desk: Protesters have once again blocked the entrance to Iraq’s Umm Qasr commodities port near Basra, preventing employees and tankers from entering and bringing operations down by 50%.
If the blockage goes on until the afternoon, operations will come to a complete halt, the sources said. The port was previously blocked from Oct. 29 to Nov. 9 with a brief resumption of operations between November 7-9.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security purposes, the security source revealed that “late on Thursday night, dozens of demonstrators closed the entrances to the port of Umm Qasr, in the southern governorate of Basra.”
“The demonstrators closed all the main roads leading to the port, preventing the entry of trucks to the port,” added the source in an interview with Anadolu Agency.
Since then, there have been more than 325 fatalities and some 15,000 injured, according to a census prepared by Anadolu News Agency, based on figures from the parliamentary Human Rights Committee, the Human Rights Commission (official and affiliated with the parliament) and medical sources.
The vast majority of the victims were protesters who were killed during clashes with security forces and militants from pro-Iran Shi’ite factions.
Protesters initially demanded the improvement of services, provision of job opportunities and combating of corruption.
Abdul-Mahdi refuses to resign, stipulating that political forces must first agree on an alternative, and warns that the absence of a “smooth and prompt” alternative will leave the fate of Iraq to the unknown.
Umm Qasr Port is Iraq's only deep water port, part of the city of Umm Qasr. Iraq's second port in scale of size and goods shipped to the port of Basra, it is strategically important, located on the western edge of the al-Faw peninsula, where the mouth of the Shatt al Arab waterway enters the Persian Gulf. It is separated from the border of Kuwait by a small inlet. Prior to the Persian Gulf War, traffic between Kuwait and Iraq flowed over a bridge.
Source: MEMO, Reuters
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