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Basra youth explore the city on skateboards

Theres are the pioneers of Basra's skateboarding scene

Location: Basra, Iraq

Mustafa Ibrahim was inspired to start skateboarding

after watching YouTube while stuck at home

Now, he and his friends are content creators themselves

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SKATEBOARDER FROM BASRA, AHMED FADEL, SAYING:"We started to publish videos of us skateboarding on social media sites and our numbers started to increase, from 5 to 15, 20, we now reached more than about 70 people. We like the hobby. And we want to show that Basra has different cultures, different beautiful hobbies."

When restrictions eased, they took to the streets

challenging those who view it as a reckless sport

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SKATEBOARDER FROM BASRA, MUSTAFA IBRAHIM, SAYING:"In the beginning, it was very difficult, very hard. Because when this sport spread, there were so few of us. I used to go out alone. And I saw people looking at me in a bad way. It is a new sport, it is not well-known. It was really hard."