Protest Picket in Baghdad against unemployment and poor services

Protest picket in Baghdad district
against unemployment and poor services

A protest picket was organized by Iraqi Communists in Baghdad Al-Jadidah district in the capital Baghdad on Saturday 10th October 2009.
The protest, against the worsening basic services and unemployment, was held in the local market in Abu el-Hail square. The participants included workers, unemployed people and shoppers. The banners raised in the picket called for “providing job opportunities for unemployed youth”, and safeguarding the rights of people who had lost their jobs for political reasons under the dictatorship. One banner aasked: “What have ministries done to solve the problems of lack of drinking water, electricity cuts and deteriorating health services?” Another said: “No water .. No electricity in the Land of the Two Rivers!”

Speeches and poems were delivered by the participants, while national songs blared out from loudspeakers.
Abed Ali Shneat, one of the organizers (from Iraqi CP’s Al-Risafa al-Thaniya district organization), said that the demands of the protesters also included calls for building schools, cleaning the area, paving roads, in addition to providing clean water and electricity and combating unemployment.
A statement summarizing the demands of the residents was read out. It was addressed to Baghdad’s Provincial Council and the mayor of the Iraqi capital.