52 security personnel wounded in Kut electricity protests, say sources

WASIT — At least 52 members of the security forces were wounded in clashes over electricity supply in Kut that ran from Monday evening into Tuesday morning, a medical source told 964media, with dozens of protesters also believed hurt but no count available.

“Injuries among security forces reached 52, with varying degrees of severity,” the source said. Many injured protesters, particularly those with minor wounds, did not go to the city’s hospitals for fear of arrest, the source said, leaving no official figure.

Protesters burned tyres and blocked main roads and bridges in central Kut. Security forces used smoke grenades to clear the bridges and made arrests, a local source said, with large numbers deployed alongside a force that arrived from Baghdad at the entrances to the Wasit Provincial Council and the governorate headquarters.

Monday’s protests followed the arrest of several demonstrators who took part the previous night, and demanded their release along with better electricity supply.

The dispute has run since June, when residents gathered at al-Sayyad intersection in central Kut demanding a written federal guarantee fixing the governorate’s allocation at 1,500 megawatts. “We will remain committed to peaceful protest and preserve it, but we will not stop demanding our rights to electricity,” organizer Maytham al-Rikabi said then. Clashes broke out in July after protesters said local authorities had failed to obtain that guarantee.

The Electricity Ministry said on June 14 that Iraq was generating about 22,000 MW and that Wasit’s approved share was 4.99% of the power distributed among governorates other than Basra, after exemptions and operational requirements. On those figures the share works out at roughly 1,100 MW, short of the 1,500 the protesters are demanding, and the ministry has said supply hours are falling because of reduced gas supplies, higher summer demand, illegal connections, aging infrastructure and funding shortfalls.

Wasit is forecast to reach 50°C on Tuesday.