British troops restore order after Iraqi pay riot
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 07/01/2004)
Two Iraqis were reported killed and two wounded after bank guards fired on a crowd of rioting former soldiers in Basra yesterday.
The ex-servicemen were protesting after being told that they would not be paid, a British military spokesman said. British reinforcements had to be called in when Iraqi police failed to control the situation.
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The military authorities had no reports of anyone being killed and of only one man being wounded, the spokesman said. But local hospitals said they treated four men for gunshot wounds, two of whom died.
Several hundred ex-soldiers assembled outside three of the city's banks early yesterday morning expecting to be paid £83 they were owed for pay dating back to September.
When they were told they would not be paid they marched on the central bank and began to try to force their way in. Bank guards then opened fire on them, the British spokesman said.
Iraqi police were called in to help to control the rioters, firing over their heads, he said. When that failed, British troops from the Royal Regiment of Wales moved in protected by Warrior armoured personnel carriers.
They fired plastic bullets and used loudhailers to reassure the men that they would eventually receive their pay, and the rioters dispersed, the spokesman said.
 | 6 January 2004: SAS soldiers die in Baghdad crash |
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