- Title: IRAQ: HEAD OF STATUE OF SADDAM HUSSEIN IS DRAGGED ALONG THE STREETS OF BAGHDAD
- Date: 9th April 2003
- Summary: (W6) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (APRIL 9, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS, GROUP OF MEN AND CHILDREN DRAGGING THE HEAD FROM FALLEN SADDAM HUSSEIN STATUE IN CHAINS ALONG GROUND / BOY FOLLOWING HITTING HEAD WITH STONES 0.13 2. SLV MEN BEATING HEAD OF STATUE WITH SHOES 0.20 3. MV, OF MAN SHOUTING 'SADDAM, TO BLOODY HELL, SADDAM' 0.41 4. MV MEN MOVING S
- Embargoed: 24th April 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAEI0MVC590ZZVS92CRY12OZDE7
- Story Text: A group of Iraqis have been parading the head of a
fallen statue of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in
unprecedented scenes in Baghdad.
The towering statue was pulled to the ground on Wednesday
(April 9) in a symbolic act against the dictator's oppressive
regime.
Working together in the heart of Baghdad, US marines
helped crowds of Iraqi men bring down the imposing monument on
the day the city's population celebrated its liberation.
The scenes were reminiscent of the fall of the Berlin
Wall, brought down by citizens of another oppressed city,
Using the A-frame of a tank recovery vehicle, the marines
scaled the statue and secured chains around the figure
alongside a noose which the Iraqis had already put there.
As the vehicle's winch was tightened, the monument jerked
then slowly fell forward, hanging precariously from the plinth
- before crashing to the ground.
Hundreds of civilians gathered around cheering, running
over and swamping the huge statue as it lay in the central
Shahid Square .
The event took place just hours after US Marines swept
into the eastern area of central Baghdad.
At one point, a marine draped the face of Saddam with an
American Stars and Stripes flag, but it was quickly removed.
Scores of men pulled off their shoes, using them to beat
the fallen statue, one of the biggest insults in the Arab
world.
Raising their hands in delight, men scrambled to join
those dancing and jumping up and down on the enormous figure.
The statue fell at 3.48pm BST.
Earlier in the day, civilians threw stones at the bronze
monument and used a sledge hammer to attack the plinth.
One of the first to attack the stone pedestal, a large man
wearing a grey vest which showed his strong arms, swung the
hammer with as much force as he could, drawing cheers and
applause from the crowd.
While the hammer was passed round from man to man,
chanting bystanders clapped in time to the blows, and chunks
of stone broke away.
The civilians, mostly young men, found a rope and tied
it into a noose, before climbing up on a ladder and threading
it round the Saddam statue's neck.
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