Iraqi protesters shut down southern Nassiriya oilfield
![Iraqi](/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Iraqi-3-780x405.jpg)
Iraqi Protesters broke into Iraq’s southern Nassiriya oilfield on Saturday and forced employees to cut off electricity from its control station, taking the field offline until further notice, a security source and two oil sources told our reporters.
The oilfield produces 90,000 barrels a day (bpd) of crude. As they forced its closure, protesters chanted “no homeland, no oil,” the sources said, in which they mean to say “if we do not have a homeland, we do not have oil”.
Protesters are demanding the removal of the entire ruling elite seen as enriching itself off the state and serving foreign powers — above all Iran — as many Iraqis languish in poverty without jobs, healthcare, or education. They are also demanding the appointment of a premier with no party affiliation.
Iraqi President Barham Salih refused on Thursday to designate the nominee of an Iran-backed parliamentary bloc for prime minister, saying he would rather resign than appoint someone to the position who would be rejected by protesters, further extending weeks of political deadlock.