Basra protests .. Rise in the number of dead and reference on the line

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The speaker of the Iraqi parliament has called for a session of the legislative institution on Saturday to discuss the crisis in Basra, and the Basra protests have left nine dead and dozens injured among demonstrators and security forces.

The official Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the interim President of the Parliament Mohammad Ali Zinni agreed to hold an emergency session on Saturday to discuss the situation in Basra, at the request of 54 deputies.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the ministers concerned in the province will attend the emergency meeting on the events in Basra.

The Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr gave the House of Representatives until Sunday to hold a special session to resolve the crisis in Basra, and stressed the need for the presence of "the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Interior, Health, Water Resources, Reconstruction, Municipalities and Electricity and the Governor of Basra to develop radical solutions, both immediate and future, .

Conservative and parties
Basra has witnessed mass demonstrations to protest the deterioration of living conditions in the province, where they burned the governor's headquarters and a number of political parties and government buildings. Local sources said that the operation command in the province announced a comprehensive curfew in the province until further notice.

The social crisis in Basra, sparked by a protest against corruption and poor services since July, has been exacerbated by a health crisis. Water pollution in the oil-rich province has displaced more than 30,000 people who have been poisoned to hospitals.

The Independent High Commission for Human Rights (Iraqi parliament) said the violence in Basra on Thursday evening killed two people, bringing the number of demonstrators killed to 11 since the beginning of this month in the violence and clashes between protesters and security forces.

Ministry of Health
The Iraqi Ministry of Health said that two people were killed by burns and shooting and 48 others were injured in the events in Basra since Thursday, including the wounded 36 civilians and 12 of the security forces.

Human rights defenders accuse the police of shooting at the demonstrators, while the authorities refer to "saboteurs" who infiltrated the protesters, saying they ordered the soldiers not to shoot.

The Iraqi government announced in July a contingency plan and the allocation of billions of dollars to improve the situation in southern Iraq, which suffers from a severe shortage of services and infrastructure, although there are no battles against the organization of the Islamic state.

Shiite reference
In a related context, the representative of the Shiite authority in Iraq on the refusal to use excessive violence against demonstrators and security forces in Basra, and called the reference - an example of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani - to preserve public and private property, and the presence of senior officials to work sites to resolve the problems of Basra, Caused by "default, routine and corruption".

The Iraqi authorities closed the port of Umm Qasr, the largest in the province of Basra because of the wave of protests in the city, and the Iraqi Transport Minister Kazem Fanjan sent letters to the demonstrators in Basra, demanding them not to affect the airports and ports as service institutions.