BAGHDAD, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi authorities on Thursday lifted a planned curfew aimed at quelling anti-corruption and water contamination protests in the southern Iraqi province of Basra minutes before it was scheduled to take effect.
Jamil al-Shimary, commander of Basra provincial Operations Command, declared in a press release the lift of curfew and urged the citizens to cooperate with security forces to save lives and protect property.
The decision negated an earlier statement by Basra's provincial command to impose indefinite curfew in the province from 3 p.m. (1200 GMT) to prevent protests over wide-spread corruption, lack of jobs, water contamination and other basic services.
It was not yet clear why the curfew was cancelled, especially after the Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan told the press that the curfew was imposed after intelligence reports said protestors are planning to attack some government institutions in the province.
Basra, the province's capital city which bears the same name, has long witnessed complaints among its more than 2 million residents about the collapsing infrastructure, power cuts and corruption.
Water supply in the province is also widely criticized for high salinity, with thousands of residents having been hospitalized.
The protesters also accused the influential political parties of being behind the wide-spread corruption, which led to high unemployment and failure in rehabilitation of the country's electricity, water and other basic services.
A total of nine protesters have been killed and 93 others wounded in sporadic clashes with security forces in Basra since the beginning of September, according to figures released by the independent High Commission for Human Rights of Iraq.
Meanwhile, 18 security members were wounded, the figures showed.
The commission mentioned the "use of excessive violence by the security forces against peaceful demonstrators," Al Iraqiya official channel reported.
During the past few months, protests erupted in Basra and several cities in southern and central Iraqi provinces, including the capital Baghdad, despite a series of measures taken by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to quell the street anger.
