Civil unrest fueled by anger against perceived corruption and misrule by Iraq’s political elite spread across the south of the country on Friday as protesters stormed the Iranian consulate in Basra while others took workers hostage at a nearby oilfield. After five days of deadly demonstrations in Basra in which government buildings have been ransacked and set alight, protesters broke in and damaged the consulate’s offices, shouting condemnation of what many perceive as Iran’s sway over Iraq’s political parties. Security sources said the consulate was empty when the crowd burst in. Late in the day some 65 kilometers north-west of Iraq’s second biggest city, another group of civilians entered a water treatment facility linked to the West Qurna 2 oilfield, managed by Russia’s Lukoil. They were […]