Riot police disperse and detain workers protesting outside Basra refinery

BASRA — Riot police used batons to disperse workers staging an open-ended sit-in near the South Refineries Company in Basra’s Zubair district, injuring several protesters and detaining around seven before Basra Governor Asaad al-Eidani ordered their release.

The protesters are former engineers, science graduates and technical workers employed through private companies on the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit at the Al-Shuaiba Refinery — Iraq’s largest and most advanced refinery upgrade project, designed to convert heavy fuel oil into high-octane gasoline, diesel and liquefied gas. Around 500 former workers have been demanding permanent employment after being dismissed following the end of construction, despite what they describe as nearly two years of work and completed administrative approvals for their employment requests.

The confrontation came a day after protesters escalated their campaign into a continuous sit-in organized through rotating shifts near the RAB Scan checkpoint close to the refinery.

Eidani visited the protest site Tuesday and met demonstrators alongside refinery administration. He pledged to raise their demands with Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Oil Minister Bassim Abadi, while calling on protesters not to block roads or shut down refinery operations. He also pledged employment opportunities and training programs for former FCC workers and said they would receive priority in future hiring “to enable them to compete with foreign labor.”

The protest movement began months earlier and has gradually escalated. In April, more than 300 engineers and science graduates protested outside Basra Oil Company over the same demands, with Energy Police arresting two demonstrators and using force to disperse others at the time.