BAGHDAD 

Hundreds of Iraqi workers shut the main headquarters of the Electric Power Production and Transmission Company in the southern city of Basra on Wednesday in protest of delaying their salaries.

Protesters say the company has refused to pay employees with temporary contracts for the past six months.

Demonstrators prevented employees from entering the building and threatened to stage an open-ended sit-in in front of the company if they were not paid, according to eyewitnesses.

Local authorities in Basra cite the lack of sufficient funds from the federal government as the main reason for delaying the payments.

Iraq suffers from a severe financial crisis due to the decline in financial revenues from oil as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara