British soldiers face wrath of Iraqis as hatred festers

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=432843

British soldiers face wrath of Iraqis as hatred festers on streets of Basra
By Justin Huggler in Basra
12 August 2003


Burnt tyres and stones that were thrown at British soldiers trying to contain riots by Iraqis infuriated by constant power cuts and a fuel crisis still littered the streets of Basra yesterday.

Calm had been restored to the city after two days in which at least one Iraqi protester was killed - who fired the bullet is still unclear - and a Nepalese former Gurkha soldier was shot dead when his UN car was ambushed in the street. But you get the sense the British are sitting on a pressure cooker.

How serious the riots were depends on whom you speak to. Ask the British occupation authority which runs the south of Iraq, and it was all a storm in a teacup. Ask the Iraqis on the streets of Basra, and you hear a different story. There is anger seething on the streets.

"Only a thousand people were involved in the protests, out of a city of two million," says Steve Bird, a spokesman for the military. "If you ask the people here, they'll tell you they want us here, to help rebuild the infrastructure." But even as Mr Bird says reassuringly that the security situation in Basra is under control, the crackle of gunfire can be heard through his office window. Outside the fortified British compound, American soldiers arrive in a Humvee. Iraqi children shout abuse at the Americans. They want to throw stones, but some older Iraqis nervously restrain them

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