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First anti-US protest in post-Saddam Baghdad
Baghdad, Apr 13: Several dozen Iraqis today staged the first anti-US demonstration in Baghdad since American forces arrived to a warm welcome last week, amid mounting anger over widespread looting since Saddam Hussein`s regime collapsed.
Baghdad, Apr 13: Several dozen Iraqis today staged the first anti-US demonstration in Baghdad since American forces arrived to a warm welcome last week, amid mounting anger over widespread looting since Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed.
US forces began the Herculean task of restoring normalcy
to the country devastated by years of war and sanctions,
setting up an operations centre to screen Iraqi workers in the
heart of the battered capital.
But near the recruitment desk in the Palestine hotel, demonstrators lifted a banner, "Bush = Saddam."
They chanted: "There is only one god and America is the enemy of god!" and "We will sacrifice our souls and our blood for Iraq!"
One protester said the demonstration was meant "to tell the Americans that they're the ones who put Saddam in power and now they're going to try to force on us other rulers we don't want."
Only state-organized demonstrations were allowed during Saddam's 24 years of iron-fisted rule, during which he made Baghdad known as a world bastion of anti-Americanism.
But near the site of the small protest, hundreds of locals queued up for their first jobs in the post-Saddam area, triggering massive traffic jams in central Baghdad.
They flocked to a recruitment desk in the Palestine hotel where a Marines spokeswoman said they were seeking to put Iraqis back at work in key sectors, starting with the police and electrical power departments. Bureau Report
But near the recruitment desk in the Palestine hotel, demonstrators lifted a banner, "Bush = Saddam."
They chanted: "There is only one god and America is the enemy of god!" and "We will sacrifice our souls and our blood for Iraq!"
One protester said the demonstration was meant "to tell the Americans that they're the ones who put Saddam in power and now they're going to try to force on us other rulers we don't want."
Only state-organized demonstrations were allowed during Saddam's 24 years of iron-fisted rule, during which he made Baghdad known as a world bastion of anti-Americanism.
But near the site of the small protest, hundreds of locals queued up for their first jobs in the post-Saddam area, triggering massive traffic jams in central Baghdad.
They flocked to a recruitment desk in the Palestine hotel where a Marines spokeswoman said they were seeking to put Iraqis back at work in key sectors, starting with the police and electrical power departments. Bureau Report