AMARAH, Iraq — Unemployed Iraqis pelted British troops with stones yesterday while a top Shi’ite Muslim cleric demanded that the country’s next parliament be elected rather than chosen by local caucuses, as planned by the Americans.
Also yesterday, a U.S.-backed politician said a purge of members of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party had pushed 28,000 Iraqis from their jobs, with a similar number expected to follow.
In the southern city of Amarah, waves of protesters — some armed with sticks and shovels — rushed British troops guarding the city hall a day after clashes killed six protesters and wounded at least 11.
The British drove the crowd back from the compound, which also houses the U.S.-led civil administration and the 1st Battalion of Britain’s Light Infantry. Booms and flashes of light from makeshift bombs exploded in the melee.
“We are trying to permit a peaceful protest, but prevent loss of life or damage to property,” said British Maj. Johnny Bowron.
Tensions in Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, erupted Saturday after hundreds of Iraqis gathered to protest that authorities had not kept a promise to give them jobs. Demonstrators said yesterday that they were looking to avenge those killed Saturday. There were no reports of additional injuries.
Demonstrators sent a representative to talk to British and Iraqi officials, who promised them 8,000 jobs, according to witnesses. But protesters said a similar promise made weeks ago had not been fulfilled.
Before the U.S.-led invasion, Saddam’s security forces were the biggest employer in this city of 400,000.
The comments yesterday by Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, could complicate American plans to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis by July 1.
Ayatollah al-Sistani, whose views are highly influential among Iraq’s Shi’ite majority, said the U.S. plan to have regional caucuses select members of a provisional national assembly would give birth to an illegitimate government.
“This will, in turn, give rise to new problems, and the political and security situation will deteriorate,” the ayatollah said in a statement released by his office in the holy Shi’ite city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.
Ayatollah al-Sistani demanded that the assembly be elected directly, adding that credible elections could be held in Iraq within months.
He also balked at American plans to seek quick approval for the continued presence of foreign troops in Iraq through the U.S.-picked Governing Council. The ayatollah said only an elected government could sign off on the presence of U.S. troops beyond July 1.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of former high-level Ba’athists are set to lose their jobs, said Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi, who leads a committee aimed at ridding Iraq of the influence of Saddam’s party.
For Mr. Chalabi, the idea of reconciliation with top Ba’athists is a nonstarter.
“How can you reconcile those laying dead in mass graves with those who killed them? We can only talk about forgiveness,” Mr. Chalabi told reporters.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.