Iraqi authorities lift curfew in Basra after days of violence

Iraqi officials in Basra lifted a curfew on Saturday night that had been in place since 4 pm (1300 GMT), the military said.

The streets of Basra were calm on Saturday, after days of violent protests rocked Iraq's southern oil hub.

Organisers of the demonstrations said they would pause on Saturday, but there was still a heavy security force presence in the city of more than 2 million people.

Iraq's second biggest city has been rocked by five days of deadly demonstrations, in which government buildings have been ransacked and set alight by protesters angry over perceived political corruption. 

Abadi facing calls to resign

Prime Minister Haider al Abadi faced calls to resign on Saturday as his alliance with a populist cleric who won May's elections crumbled over deadly unrest in Basra. 

The two leading groups in parliament called on Abadi to step down, after lawmakers held an emergency meeting on the public anger boiling over in the southern city of Basra. 

“We demand the government apologise to the people and resign immediately,” said Hassan Al Aqouli, spokesman for the list of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr that won the most seats in the election. 

The announcement dealt a severe blow to Abadi’s hopes of holding onto his post through a bloc — described as the biggest in parliament — unveiled just days earlier with Sadr and more than a dozen other groups.

Basra airport targeted by rocket fire

Earlier, Basra airport was targeted by rocket fire on Saturday after a night of protests over perceived misrule by Iraq's political elite during which demonstrators torched the Iranian consulate and briefly took oilfield workers hostage.

Iraqi security sources said three Katyusha rockets fired by unknown assailants had hit the perimeter of the airport, although no damage or casualties had been reported. The US consulate is adjacent to Basra's airport.

An official at the Iraqi airport said there was no disruption to operations, and flights were taking off and landing as normal.

The attack came shortly after a citywide curfew was lifted and hours after the reopening of Iraq's main seaport of Umm Qasr where protesters had blocked the port's entrance, forcing a halt to all operations.

On Friday, protesters broke into the Iranian consulate, shouting condemnation of what many perceive as Iran's sway over Iraq's political affairs, and set it alight. Iran and Iraq both strongly condemned the move, raising fears of possible retribution.

Another group of protesters entered a water treatment facility linked to the West Qurna 2 oilfield, held two Iraqi employees hostage for about an hour before leaving peacefully. Production was not disrupted, a manager at the oilfield said.

Emergency parliament session 

Parliament convened an emergency session to discuss the escalating crisis in Basra on Saturday afternoon when Abadi warned against the politicisation of the crisis.

"Politics should be separated from security and services," he said, warning that the situation could descend into armed conflict.

At a cabinet meeting earlier on Saturday, ministers agreed to send a delegation to Basra, and Abadi said he had ordered an investigation into the security forces "for not fulfilling their duties" in protecting government buildings and the Iranian consulate.

The heads of Basra Operations Command and the Basra Police were both sacked on Saturday.

Water protests

Three protesters died on Friday and 48 more were wounded, 26 of whom were shot, sources said, while two members of the security forces were wounded.

At least 13 protesters have died, some in clashes with security forces, since Monday and dozens more have been wounded.

The unrest has thrust Iraq into a major crisis at a time when politicians still have yet to agree on a new government after an inconclusive election in May. The new parliament met for the first time on Monday, but failed to elect a speaker, much less name a new prime minister.

The streets were calm on Saturday. Organisers of the demonstrations said they would pause protests on Saturday following the evening's escalation, while additional security forces have been deployed as backup.

Residents in Basra, a city of more than two million people, say they have been driven to the streets by corruption and misrule that allowed infrastructure to collapse, leaving no power or safe drinking water in the heat of summer.

They say the water supply has become contaminated with salt, making them vulnerable and desperate in the hot summer months, and thousands of people have been hospitalised from drinking it.