Riot Chases Troops Out of Iraqi Town, and Iraqis Get to Keep Weapons

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

*****   LA Times   May 29, 2003
AFTER THE WAR
Riot Chases Troops Out of Iraqi Town
'They were terrifying the women and children,' one protester says
after U.S. soldiers search homes for weapons.
By Tyler Marshall, Times Staff Writer

HIT, Iraq - In the third straight day of Iraqi violence against the
U.S. military occupation of the country, residents enraged over
house-to-house searches in this western town ransacked the police
station, stoned U.S. armored military vehicles and set police cars on
fire Wednesday.

With a large, uncontrolled mob still roaming the streets as dusk
fell, it was impossible to determine exactly what triggered the riot,
but in a series of chaotic interviews laced with anti-American rage
and threats of vengeance, residents said the problems began when
police assisted the U.S. troops in searching local homes for
weapons....

<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq29may29,1,3635804.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dworld>
*****

Apparently, the riot made the army of occupation retreat and back off
from weapons confiscation:

*****   New York Times   June 1, 2003
Allied Officials Now Allow Iraqi Civilians to Keep Assault Rifles
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 31 - In a significant retreat in American efforts
to seize weapons held by Iraqi citizens, American and British
officials said today that Iraqis would be allowed to keep AK-47
assault rifles in their homes and businesses....

<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/01/international/worldspecial/01IRAQ.html>
*****
--
Yoshie

* Calendars of Events in Columbus:
<http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>,
<http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/>
* Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>