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Former soldiers riot in Basra
Reuters in Basra Monday October 6, 2003 The Guardian British troops fired rubber bullets yesterday to disperse hundreds of former soldiers who rioted in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, hurling rocks and setting tyres on fire. The protesters gathered after a British soldier shot dead an armed Iraqi in Basra on Saturday during clashes with former soldiers collecting redundancy payments. Ex-soldiers also rioted in Baghdad and Hilla on Saturday at payment centres, where they were given their $40 (£24) compensation for losing their jobs. The US-led administration in Iraq said supporters of Saddam Hussein were fuelling the unrest by spreading rumours there was not enough money to pay everyone. Locals in Basra said five people had been wounded by rubber bullets. Iraqi police arrived to help quell the violence and fired in the air, but fled after running out of bullets. Mohammed Jasim Abboud, one of the protesters, said former soldiers needed jobs and money. "We've had no wages for a while now," he said. "We want our rights like everyone else." The occupying forces disbanded the Iraqi army in May. They later agreed to make a one-off payment of $40 to around 440,000 soldiers, and thousands have been queuing daily at payment centres around Iraq to get their cash. Washington is setting up a smaller military force to take the place of Saddam's bloated army. On Saturday the first recruits in the New Iraqi Army graduated from basic training. Special report Iraq Guardian book The War We Could Not Stop - the real story of the battle for Iraq, published by Guardian Books and Faber. Buy it from Amazon.co.uk Chronology Iraq timeline Interactive guides Click-through graphics on Iraq Key documents Full text of speeches and documents Comment and analysis More comment and analysis on Iraq Audio reports Audio reports on Iraq More special reports Politics and the war Aid for Iraq Iraq - the media war The anti-war movement 28.01.2003: Guide to anti-war websites Printable version | Send it to a friend | Save story | ||||||||
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