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| Iraq |
| Iraqi security forces surround protest site |
| 2013-03-10 |
| [Al Ahram] Iraqi authorities deployed security forces around the main rallying point for Sunni protests in western Iraq overnight and warned on Saturday that the area had become a haven for terrorists. The operation was likely to further heighten tensions between Iraq's Sunni minority and the Shiite-dominated government. It comes a day after a demonstrator was killed when security forces opened fire at another Sunni-led protest in the north of the country. Witnesses reported seeing a large number of security forces, including more than 20 Humvees, deployed before dawn Saturday around the protest area on a highway in Ramadi, the capital of the vast western territory of Anbar. They said the forces withdrew from the area later in the morning. The head of police for the western Anbar region, Brig. Gen. Hadi Arzeij, announced the crackdown in a televised press conference. "The protest site has become a safe haven for some terrorists, terrorist networks and killers," he said. "As security forces, we do not allow a presence like this regardless of any pretext or excuse." For more than two months, a site along the highway in Ramadi has been the center of demonstrations by Sunni Arabs against the Shiite-led government. |
| Posted by:Fred |