Violence Erupts at Protests by Iraqi Jobless

[Pale Blue Dot]

Reuters

Iraqis demanding jobs set cars ablaze and threw stones on Wednesday while local security forces responded with gunfire to disperse protests reflecting frustration at the parlous state of the postwar economy.

Violence erupted at demonstrations in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul on the day occupying authorities in Iraq sought to launch a new era of normality with the start of the first school year since Saddam Hussein's downfall.

In central Baghdad, several dozen protesters looking for work at a U.S.-backed local security force hurled stones at the building. Flames and black smoke poured from a police car and a civilian vehicle while gunfire echoed around the area.

Members of a crowd of several thousand threw stones at an employment office in Mosul. Some chanted support for Saddam.

[jenk]

1. how long until our unemployed get that way?

.

[XanaDUer]

3. I often wonder things like that myself.

eom.

[sistersofmercy]

2. It's really just all around awful.

These men had jobs before the war and they're anger stems from pride and frustration. So, are former government employees, such as police, to be continually shunned? It's a incrediblely sour position by Bremer et al, this guilt by association.

[Jack Rabbit]

4. BBC Link

From the BBC Online
Dated Wednesday October 1 11:10 GMT (4:10 am PDT)

Baghdad protest turns violent

A demonstration by unemployed men in central Baghdad turned into a riot.
Police fired in the air, as protesters threw rocks and set cars ablaze.
Up to 100 men gathered outside a police station, where they said they had been promised jobs after making payments to police officers.
One policeman told Reuters news agency that they opened fire only after demonstrators fired first, and there were unconfirmed reports that several people were wounded.
A BBC correspondent who witnessed the incident says it shows that the situation in Baghdad remains extremely volatile, despite coalition claims that security is improving by the day.
A much larger demonstration took place in Mosul, beginning

Read more.

[ScrewyRabbit]

5. I wonder how big these things will have to get

before the bovine US press starts reporting them.

[tlcandie]

6. Hmmmmm

<snip>
Up to 100 men gathered outside a police station, where they said they had been promised jobs after making payments to police officers.
<snip>