Public Rallies Against Occupation Take Place in Baghdad

Public rallies of artistic intellectuals and TV and radio staffers were conducted in Baghdad on Tuesday. Iraqi writers, journalists, teachers of higher institutions demanded withdrawal of occupation forces and formation of the Iraq national democratic government representing the whole political range of the country.

Iraqi intellectuals demanded from the occupation forces and Baghdad civil administration schools and universities restored and their activities resumed. They also demanded that measures should be taken to recover stolen historical and cultural heritage of the Iraqis.

Iraqi TV and radio staffers demanded that the national TV and radio broadcasting should be resumed.

"All our appeals to the U.S. military command are fruitless," ex-editor in chief of information programs of the Baghdad radio Saadun Makhdi said. They say that four U.S. military command radio stations are already broadcasting in Baghdad. One of them is called "Voice of Free Iraq" that employs four Iraqi directors and engineers. But all programmes of the radio station are the same: they broadcast appeals of the occupation command to Iraqi people while other TV and radio staffers have no work, Saadun Makhdi.

Iraqi people, Saadun Makhdi said, live in information vacuum and the occupation authorities are interested in preserving it.