trouble deadlock
U.S.: Iraq Wall Meant to ProtectBAGHDAD (AP) - U.S. and Iraqi officials on Monday defended a security barrier separating a Sunni enclave from Shiite areas in Baghdad, while hundreds of protesters took to the streets of the neighborhood to oppose what they called ``a big prison.''
[...] Iraqi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the barrier in Azamiyah was a temporary measure aimed at protecting the population and he noted similar measures had been taken elsewhere in the capital as part of a nearly 10-week-old security operation.
[...] ``We will continue to construct the security barriers in the Azamiyah neighborhood. This is a technical issue,'' he said. ``Setting up barriers is one thing and building barriers is another. These are moveable barriers than can be removed.''
But hundreds of demonstrators in Azamiyah shouted slogans and carried posters saying the concrete barrier would make them prisoners of their own neighborhoods and an easier target for terrorists.
Protesters carried banners with slogans such as the ``separation wall is a big prison for Azamiyah citizens'' and ``Azamiyah children want to see Baghdad without walls.'' No violence was reported.
Dawood al-Azami, deputy director of the Azamiyah city council, said a questionnaire that was handed out in the area on Sunday indicated that 90 percent of the respondents strongly oppose the barrier.
This sooo reminded me of District 13.
[...] Iraqi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the barrier in Azamiyah was a temporary measure aimed at protecting the population and he noted similar measures had been taken elsewhere in the capital as part of a nearly 10-week-old security operation.
[...] ``We will continue to construct the security barriers in the Azamiyah neighborhood. This is a technical issue,'' he said. ``Setting up barriers is one thing and building barriers is another. These are moveable barriers than can be removed.''
But hundreds of demonstrators in Azamiyah shouted slogans and carried posters saying the concrete barrier would make them prisoners of their own neighborhoods and an easier target for terrorists.
Protesters carried banners with slogans such as the ``separation wall is a big prison for Azamiyah citizens'' and ``Azamiyah children want to see Baghdad without walls.'' No violence was reported.
Dawood al-Azami, deputy director of the Azamiyah city council, said a questionnaire that was handed out in the area on Sunday indicated that 90 percent of the respondents strongly oppose the barrier.
This sooo reminded me of District 13.