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Iraqi Protesters Shut Roads to Ports, Oil Fields

Agence France-Presse

   BAGHDAD - Anti-government demonstrators in southern Iraq shut roads to
   two major ports and a key oil field Wednesday, port officials and AFP
   correspondents said, briefly halting operations.
   A correspondent in oil-rich Basra province saw protesters block access
   routes to the ports of Khor al-Zubair and Umm Qasr, as well
   asRumailahoil field.
   Trucks waiting to load up goods from the ports could be seen waiting
   empty behind crowds of demonstrators.
   Khor al-Zubair is used for some heavy crude exports but also to import
   fuel products like benzene, while Umm Qasr is the main entry point for
   food and medicine into Iraq.
   "Export and import activities have stopped because trucks cannot enter
   Khor al-Zubair or Umm Qasr ports," one official at Basra's port
   authority said.
   A second official later said the route to Khor al-Zubair had been
   reopened but Umm Qasr remained shut.

   Regular strategy
   Sit-ins have become a go-to tactic for Iraqis demonstrating against
   their government since early October.
   In recent weeks, protesters have shut the road to Umm Qasr several
   times, causing a delay in offloading operations that on one occasion
   forced around a dozen ships to unload their cargo in another country.
   Road closures have also kept heavy crude from the Qayyarah field in
   northern Iraq from reaching Khor al-Zubair since earlier this month.

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