国际英语新闻：Iraqis demonstrate in three provinces for better basic service

BAGHDAD, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Several thousands of Iraqis on Sunday took to street in three provinces to demand better public services from the government.

The protests occurred in Baghdad, Anbar and Basra provinces. The first demonstration was in the Bob al-Sham area in northeast of Baghdad, which was attended by about 3,000 people, demanding the government to eliminate unemployment and provide jobs, and the improvement of electricity, water.

Also a number of employees of the security forces from the Ministry of Electricity demonstrated to protest the exclusion and demanded the payment of salaries. The demonstrators who gathered in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad held banners calling for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to intervene to fulfill their requests.

In Basra, about 1,000 people gathered in front of the provincial government and clashed with riot police, demanding the resignation of the governor Chltag Abboud from his post. They urged the local officials to provide better electricity, clean water and to eliminate crimes and corruptions.

In the western province of Anbar, hundreds of people demonstrated in the center of Ramadi, the capital of the province, also calling for the resignation of the provincial governor for the poor services, as well as unemployment and poor living conditions of the inhabitants in the city.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Iraq has long faced the problems of lacking power plants and qualified water resources, which usually make many Iraqis protest in summer for the brutal heat wave.