IRAQ: OIL MINISTRY EMPLOYEES PROTEST AGAINST USE OF SNIFFER DOGS TO CONDUCT SECURITY SEARCHES.

Record ID: 344939

  • Title: IRAQ: OIL MINISTRY EMPLOYEES PROTEST AGAINST USE OF SNIFFER DOGS TO CONDUCT SECURITY SEARCHES.
  • Date: 21st October 2003
  • Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (OCTOBER 21, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF OIL MINISTRY BUILDING AND PROTESTERS IN COURTYARD 2. U.S. SOLDIERS BEHIND SANDBAGS 3. IRAQI MINISTRY STAFF NEXT TO A SANDBAG POSITION 4. PROTESTERS CARRYING IRAQI FLAG 5. SOLDIER BEHIND GUN BARREL 6. U.S. SOLDIER MOUNTING A HUMVEE 7. SHOTS OF FEMALE
  • Embargoed: 5th November 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD,IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVACCRRG4O9EV9U9D4YC8Z1SSI50
  • Story Text: Iraqi oil ministry employees protest American
    soldiers use of dogs to conduct security searches.



    U.S. soldiers fired above the heads of thousands
    of Iraqi government workers protesting on Tuesday (October
    21) after hearing that the Americans had detained a woman
    for refusing to be searched using a sniffer dog.

    A Reuters correspondent said U.S. soldiers fired a few
    shots in the air to disperse a furious crowd at a complex
    of government buildings in Baghdad that includes the oil,
    electricity, trade and irrigation ministries.

    There were no reports of casualties.

    "They (U.S. soldiers ) caught the woman and pushed her,
    then we came and found the soldier who did this. Do you
    accept that?" asked one protestor.

    The protest was ignited when U.S. soldiers detained a
    woman, an engineer at the oil ministry, who refused to
    undergo a sniffer dog search, saying that she was carrying
    the Koran in her handbag.

    Dogs are considered unclean in Islamic culture.

    Protestors said U.S. troops had handcuffed a woman
    employee and forced her to stand in the sun for an hour.

    U.S. soldiers also confiscated camera gear of an Arab
    TV network, which was filming the protest.

    There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military.

    U.S. forces are manning numerous checkpoints at key
    buildings and roads in Baghdad, searching people and cars
    in an attempt to stop the growing number of suicide attacks.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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