- NAJAF - At least 20 Iraqis
have been killed and about 150 wounded after Spanish-led coalition troops
fired on protesters in the Iraqi city of Najaf.
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- Reporters said troops fired from several directions,
prompting clashes between the troops and militiamen loyal to a radical
Shi'ite cleric.
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- The protests had erupted over the arrest of an aide to
the cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr.
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- The US civil administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said
while Iraqis were free to protest, this kind of violence would not be tolerated.
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- "It will not be tolerated by the coalition, it will
not be tolerated by the Iraqi forces and it will not be tolerated by the
Iraqi people," he said.
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- Witnesses said the troops opened fire when thousands
of protesters tried to enter a coalition base on the edge of the city.
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- Spanish, El Salvadorean and other Spanish-speaking troops
are headquartered at the base.
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- Meanwhile, at least two protesters were injured when
police fired warning shots during a rally in central Baghdad.
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- Hundreds of protesters were gathered in the city's Firdaus
Square in support of the same anti-American Shi'ite Muslim cleric.
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- Witnesses said police fired, mostly in the air.
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- Edited by Elmarie Jack
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- http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,6119,2-10-1462_1508011,00.html
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