Dancing in Baghdad's streets
News Headlines: World



Published: 09-Apr-03; 13:53
By: ITN




Hundreds of Iraqi civilians danced and cheered in the streets of Baghdad as Saddam Hussein's iron grip on the city appeared finally to be broken.

Looters raided the administration's offices, abandoned shops and government residences in the capital, taking furniture and food.

In parts of Baghdad, men, women and their children were pictured cheering and giving "victory" signs to foreign TV cameras.

One man, who appeared to be in his late 50s, tore down a picture of Saddam Hussein wearing his trademark military beret and sunglasses.

The man took off his shoe and used it to beat the image of the dictator's face openly in the street - a great insult in the Arab world

"This is the criminal, this is the infidel," he said. "This is the destiny of every traitor ... he killed millions of us. Oh people, this is freedom."

According to reports, government officials fled the city earlier in the day, and Saddam's controversial information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf cancelled his morning press briefing.

Some areas of Baghdad east of the River Tigris remained eerily quiet, and were still reportedly in the control of Saddam's loyalists.

But elsewhere, men, women and children ran and danced in Baghdad's dusty streets, carrying office chairs, sacks of grain and other supplies on their backs.

John Irvine, ITV News Middle East correspondent, the first reporter to meet US Marines in Baghdad, said Iraqis were hurling stones at pictures of Saddam outside the HQ of the secret police.

Others were dousing the images in petrol and setting them ablaze.

He asked one of the Marines in the city how it felt to be there. The soldier replied: "Pretty good. It's nice to represent marines here. We entered Baghdad last night, but have just got to the centre now. The reception has been great."

For the first time foreign journalists working in Baghdad were able to work without being monitored by Iraqi officials.

TV pictures showed US soldiers seemingly at ease as they walked along roadsides, many with their rifles dropped to their sides.

Other scenes showed hundreds of Iraqis waving their guns in the air, while those without weapons took up branches and waved their clothing in displays of approval.

ITV News correspondent Ian Glover James said the scenes of celebration and looting had turned ugly in some places.

"Initially (it was) very good-natured. We saw a crowd ransacking what had been a government intelligence headquarters.

"But on our return on the way out, the scene had turned rather more ugly.

"There was a man standing in the middle of the road with a very heavy calibre machine gun, the kind of thing that's mounted on an armoured vehicle normally.

"There was at least one corpse on the ground and it did look like the crowd that had been busy looting had had an altercation and gunfire had ensued."

Among the chants being shouted by the jubilant citizens of Baghdad were "Saddam is god's enemy", and other reports said Iraqis were also shouting "Good, good Bush".

As news of the jubilation in Baghdad spread across Iraq, civilians in Basra and Arbil joined in celebrations of their own.

US and British officials cautiously welcomed the news. But coalition commanders warned that there could still be significant opposition and more fierce battles as loyalist fighters continued to defend Baghdad.