Iraqi High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) said 120 demonstrators were injured at Umm Qasr in Basra province.
A statement issued by the Commission said that HCHR monitored the events that took place in Basra province, which led to clashes between security forces and demonstrators at the port of Umm Qasr, and pointed out the fall of 120 injured people in Um Qasr hospital due to the use of tear gas by security forces, directly towards the demonstrators and fired live bullets to disperse them.
The statement added that ‘while the Commission stresses the right of peaceful demonstration, it calls on all demonstrators to stay in the places of demonstrations and not to endanger public facilities and property, especially as ports are the most important resources of the economy of the Iraqi people and that harm or disruption will reflect negatively on all the rights of the people, which requires full cooperation between the demonstrators and the security forces to protect them and not to disrupt their actions, which may have negative effects on the failure of ships to arrive to Iraq due to the dangers posed to ports and inflict significant economic losses in Iraq’.
The Commission called on the security forces to take utmost restraint in dealing with the demonstrators and to refrain from using weapons that harm against the demonstrators. (QNA)
