An eye witness to the demonstration reported the following:

The demonstration started at 9:00 am Basra time and was in front of the governorate office at 10:00 am. Hundreds of demonstrators carried signs protesting the oil law, government dictated hikes in oil and gas prices paid by Iraqis, demanding workers rights, and that the minister of oil resign. It was a peaceful demonstration. They carried a black coffin on which they wrote "Democracy is Dead, No Freedom." A statement from the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions was read by Farj Rbat, the media officer, in the presence on the governorate officials who also read a statement supporting the demands of the demonstrators. Accordingly, a letter will be sent to the prime minister supported with another letter form the governor of Basra. At the same time similar demonstrations took place in Amara and Nassiryya . The demonstration lasted for two hours.

Media reports follow below:

Today hundreds of Iraqis took to the streets of Basra, Iraq, in opposition to the Oil Law that the US government is pressuring the Iraqi Parliament to pass. Led by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), this demonstration charged that the proposed Oil Law surrenders Iraq's economic sovereignty to multinational oil companies and demanded that the Iraqi Parliament reject the new Oil Law.

The people of Iraq are united in opposition to the Oil Law but the Iraqi Parliament continues to face intense pressure by the Bush Administration to pass the Oil Law, which would open two thirds of Iraq's oil to foreign control through contracts that could last as long as 30 years.
Originally written with the assistance of US officials and contractors, adoption of the law is also one the benchmarks imposed by the US that the Iraqis must meet in order to receive continued reconstruction aid.

Drop the Benchmark! Take action in solidarity with the people of Iraq!

If you live in the United States, please call or write to your elected officials today ( http://action.priceofoil.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6978&t=wide.dwt ) and tell them to drop the oil law benchmark and cease all U.S. pressure on the Iraqis to pass the Oil Law. Tell them it is unacceptable that the US has any role in determining the future of Iraq's oil industry-especially when it is being written to primarily benefit US companies at a time when the country is under U.S. military occupation.
Use this link to email your members of Congress, or you can reach your members by calling the Congressional Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and asking for your member's office.

If you are outside of the United States, ask your elected officials to apply international pressure on the U.S. government to stop pressuring the Iraqis to pass the Oil Law and to Drop The Benchmarks!

Wherever you are in the world - Visit! Call! or Write! your elected officials and let them know that you support protestors in Iraq in their opposition to the U.S.-imposed Oil Law.

The people of Iraq took a bold step today by standing up against US pressure and saying that they will not allow an occupying force steal their most valuable natural resource. If the Oil Law is enacted, its disastrous effects will be felt for generations to come. We must stand with the Iraqi people and do everything we can to have this law removed from the benchmarks and ensure that they will not again be pressured to enact a law that goes against their national well-being. Thank you for taking action today.

For more information on the oil law and an update on its status, read Antonia Juhasz's article, "Benchmark Boogie". http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?=1&cache=0&id=14052

http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2007/07/16/afx3915787.html

FX News Limited
Hundreds of Iraqis protest draft oil law
07.16.07, 5:23 AM ET

BASRA (Thomson Financial) - About 300 oil industry workers gathered in Iraq's main oil port of Basra today to protest a draft law that they said would allow foreigners to pillage the country's wealth.

'To compensate for the military and political failure of the US administration in Iraq, this administration is trying to control the country's wealth,' the organisers said in a statement distributed toreporters.

'If this is endorsed by the parliament it would abolish sovereignty and hand over the wealth of this generation and the generations to come as a gift to the occupier,' the statement said.

The protesters, employees of the Oil Pipelines Company, wore black surgical masks over their faces and carried banners and black coffins with the word 'freedom' written on the sides.

At issue is a clause in the draft hydrocarbon law allowing for production-sharing agreements with foreign oil companies, which many Iraqis see as a throwback to an earlier era of colonial exploitation.

'This law, in fact destroys the achievements of the Iraqi masses and especially the Law number 80 of 1961 and the nationalisation of 1973,' the statement said.

The law from 1961, part of a bundle of socialist reforms issued by then-Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim, sharply limited foreign involvement in the oil sector.

US officials see the passing of the draft hydrocarbon law -- aimed at equitably distributing Iraq's oil proceeds -- as a crucial benchmark of the country's political process and a key component of national reconciliation.

AFX News Limited 2007.