Iraqis rally for human rights

2003-12-11 07:43

Baghdad - Thousands of Iraqis, some watched over by US Apache helicopters, demonstrated in Baghdad and other cities Wednesday to condemn "terrorism" in their country.

More than 200 protesters from the Iraqi National Congress and other political parties, women's groups and sheikhs in traditional dress gathered near the National Theatre in Baghdad and marched to a central Baghdad hotel.

"This is the national campaign against terrorism and sabotage," said Abo Thaer, 55, a member of the Iraqi Communist Party. His party members turned out with giant red flags bearing the hammer and sickle.

Participants said the rallies marked International Human Rights Day.

A similar protest last Friday in the capital attracted about a thousand Iraqis.

American-led occupying forces who toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in April are battling daily attacks by insurgents whom they regularly brand terrorists.

"Terrorism .... will delay the process of rebuilding," said Eklass Khudhir, 30, one of four women holding a banner from the Iraqi Women's Organization.

She said it was their first protest against terrorism.

Hussein al-Musaya, a former Iraqi exile who helped organise the rally, said numerous political parties had come together to state their opposition to terrorism.

"It's also a message of thanks to the coalition force for liberating Iraq from the dictator," said Musaya, an official with the Liberal Republic Iraqi Party.

"We will not allow the fascists to come back," added Farook al-Shamari, 63.

"I don't belong to any party but I am against terrorism and fascism. We lived under the aggression of fascism for 40 years," he said.

He said he lost his teaching job and was jailed for six months for refusing to join the ruling Baath party in 1979, the year Saddam Hussein gained control of the country.

More than 2 500 protesters marched in the holy Shiite cities of Najaf and Karbala south of Baghdad. They asked for the transfer of security from the coalition to Iraqis.

Killing children is not resistance

A banner carried by the demonstrators in Najaf read, "Killing children is not resistance."

In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a hotbed of anti-US sentiment, about 100 people protested after a call by the local council.

They gathered under the protection of American troops while a counter-demonstration of about 70 people threw stones at the Americans. Iraqi police dispersed them.

Other demonstrations also took place in Baqubah just north of Baghdad, and at Suleimaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan.

- AFP