The sit-in was organized after the government failed to meet the demonstrators’ demands by a Tuesday deadline.

One day earlier, hundreds of protesters stopped Iraqi security forces from dispersing a similar sit-in at Basra’s West Qurna 2 oilfield.

A third sit-in, meanwhile, in which hundreds of demonstrators are reportedly taking part, remains underway outside Basra’s Al-Zubeir oilfield.

Ongoing protests in southern Iraq -- which erupted earlier this month and have since spread to the capital  have reportedly left several people dead and hundreds more injured.

Several Iraqi cities have been shaken by demonstrations in recent weeks over poor public services, high unemployment and chronic power shortages.

raqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi on Sunday suspended his electricity minister over a power crisis and poor services, following weeks of protests against chronic power outages.

Iraq needs more than 23,000 megawatts of electricity per hour to ensure a nonstop supply of electricity to homes and public buildings. The country, however, currently produces about 15,900 MW of electricity.