Shafaq News/ Operations at Umm Qasr Iraqi port , local officials said have reduced by almost 80 % on Tuesday after protesters closed the entrance to the port.

A port manager said that operations at the port had been reduced to 20% because substitute workers were unable to join work.

Thousands of Iraqis took the streets this week in a second wave of protests against the government and the political elite, which they say are corrupt and isolated from the people. The death toll since the start of a wider unrest on 1^st of October has risen to at least 250.

Umm Qasr port receives Iraq's imports of cereals, vegetables, oils and sugar.

Local officials say they have held talks with protesters to try to persuade them to allow workers to enter the port so that it can operate normally.