Security forces beat protesters at Basra oil demonstration

Shafaq News- Basra

Security forces arrested three demonstrators on Monday as dozens of former workers from the Fuel Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit —a key refining project— resumed protests outside the Basra Oil Company, demanding permanent employment under Iraq’s Ministry of Oil.

Ahmed Shaker, a representative of the protesters, told Shafaq News that the group has been mobilizing for more than five months after about 350 workers were dismissed shortly before the unit entered operation, despite having worked on the project throughout its development and preparation stages.

The Oil Ministry, he added, approved their reinstatement in principle, conditional on a formal request from the operating company, criticizing what he described as reliance on foreign labor while sidelining local staff.

Shaker said security forces intervened to disperse the protest, beating several participants. He vowed that demonstrations will continue until the workers are reinstated “in a way that ensures their rights are not lost.”

The FCC unit forms part of the South Refineries Company’s expansion program in Basra, Iraq’s primary oil-producing province. Similar protests were recorded in 2025, when former contract workers demanded permanent positions within the Oil Ministry, with some incidents escalating into confrontations between demonstrators and security personnel.

Iraq’s unemployment rate stood at 15.5% in 2025, according to Trading Economics, while the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has reported 47,000 legally registered foreign workers in the country, even as more than one million Iraqis remain officially unemployed.

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