Operations at Iraq’s main port Umm Qasr have been halted as thousands of protestors block all roads leading to entrance amid clashes
Iraqi protesters burn tires as they block the entrance of Umm Qasr Port south of Basra, Iraq November 2, 2019.
Trucks carrying goods have been prevented from entering or leaving the port. Some international shipping lines have halted operations because of the port's closure, said port officials. Protests, in which 250 people have been killed over the past month, have accelerated dramatically in recent days, drawing huge crowds from across Iraq's sectarian and ethnic divides to reject the political parties in power since 2003.
Clashes have focused on the ramparts to the Republic Bridge leading across the Tigris to the heavily fortified Green Zone of government buildings, where the protesters say out-of-touch leaders are holed up in a walled-off bastion of privilege. Pompeo also said all sides should reject violence, adding that the Iraqi government's probe of violence that occurred in early October "lacked sufficient credibility."In Baghdad, protesters had set up checkpoints in the streets leading into and surrounding Tahrir Square, redirecting traffic.
"A mini-state. Health for free, tuk-tuks transporting for free," he said. "The state has been around for 16 years and what it failed to do we did in seven days in Tahrir." Many see the political class as subservient to one or another of Baghdad's main allies, the US and Iran, who use Iraq as a proxy in a struggle for regional influence.
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