HILLA: Hundreds of Iraqis protested Friday against severe water shortages exacerbated by the summer’s sweltering heat in the central province of Babylon, an AFP correspondent said.
Iraq, and its 46 million inhabitants, have been intensely impacted by the effects of climate change, experiencing rising temperatures, year-on-year droughts and reduced river flows.
Authorities also blame upstream dams built in neighboring Iran and Turkiye for dramatically lowering the flow of the once-mighty Tigris and Euphrates, which have irrigated Iraq for millennia.
In the village of Al-Majriyeh near the city of Hilla, more than 300 angry protesters urged the government to take action and solve the long-standing water issue, a day after the police dispersed a similar protest.
“We have been without water for 35 days and it has already been scarce for years,” protester Saadoun Al-Shammari, 66, said.
