Shafaq News/ Protesters in Basra, the southernmost of Iraq cut off the road to al- Shuaiba refinery west of the oil province, which has been paralyzed since this morning.

Basra province witnessed a new escalation in the protest movement after demonstrators cut most of its roads, and isolated the center of the province from the rest of the districts.

A security source told Shafaq News that demonstrators took control of Al-Kzeiza Bridge in the center of the province on Tuesday morning and closed it completely.

He added, that the road leading to Umm Qasr port, Khor Al-Zubair port, fertilizer plant, storage and export complex, gas station for electricity production and oil port were also cut by demonstrators from Khor Al-Zubair area west of Basra.

As the province has witnessed since this morning, cut off all the main streets in the center of Basra, isolation of its center from all districts and sub-districts, cut Khalid bridge and cut off Abu Al-Khasib-Faw road and isolation of Faw district and Shatt al-Arab from the center of Basra.

He added that all the districts in the center of the province are closed till now.

Several cities in central and southern Iraq witnessed on Monday night clashes between protesters and security forces causing injuries and suffocation.

This comes in conjunction with the announcement of Dhi Qar province disabled official working hours on Tuesday 26/11/2019 for security reasons, after a violent day in the province.

The police command of Dhi Qar province said on Monday that 28 policemen were wounded near al- Gharaf field north of the province. "The number of wounded security forces at Petronas gate in al- Gharaf oil field north of Dhi Qar province rose to 28 policemen while protesters from Qalat Sukkar district organized a protest at the street leading to al- Gharaf oil field.

In Babylon, a security source reported that a number of citizens suffered from suffocation due to the use of tear gas by Iraqi security forces, as some activists talked about the injury of 60 protesters.

In Karbala province , more than nine demonstrators were reported injured in clashes between protesters and security forces.

The clashes renewed on Monday evening, after the number of protesters cut roads and burned tires.

In Baghdad, the Iraqi Civil Defense Directorate announced the injury of an officer and 10 security members after being hit by Molotov cocktails in the "Hafez al-Qadi" and Rashid Street in central Baghdad.

The civil defense teams were attacked by Molotov cocktails while trying to extinguish the fires, which broke out in the center of the Iraqi capital, after which the injured were transferred to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The wave of protests in Iraq, which began since the first of October, against the corruption of the political class, is the largest and bloodiest in the country in decades, using tear gas, live bullets, rubber bullets and sound bombs.

Mass protests began in Baghdad and some southern Iraqi cities, demanding the overthrow of the regime and broad reforms, accusing the political class of corruption and failure to run the country.