Iraq has placed its security forces on high alert after protests against high unemployment and a lack of basic services in the country's southern provinces spread to the capital, Baghdad, on Saturday afternoon.
The burgeoning protests, due to high unemployment and a lack of basic services, on Friday spread from the port-city of Basra - where residents had blocked access to the nearby commodities port of Umm Qasr - to the cities of Amara, Nasiriya and the holy city of Najaf.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, has issued a seven-point directive , promising to urgently look into the demands of the protesters . In fact, the directive orders 3500 Billion Dinars to be spent on improving the quality of drinking water in southern Iraq, to solve the problems of the electricity network in southern Iraq (the problem of power outages), and also to improve other basic services and amenities of the population of southern Iraq.
After an urgent meeting under al-Abadi's chairmanship, the National Security Council of Iraq also decided on Saturday to cut internet access in the capital, Baghdad, as well as in the rest of the country, to prevent the unrest from spreading further. In Iraqi Kurdistan social netwoking sites, such as facebook have been filtered by the government.
Southern Iraq is experiencing its sixth consecutive day of demonstrations , which started in the southern port city of Basra.
