rattler
27.02.05, 19:29
A ci durnie z Washingtonu nominowali Negroponte (zyda) na Ambasadora USA w
Iraku - Jak ta decyzja moze pomoc w normalizacji stosunkow miedzy naszymi
krajami , skoro przecietny Arab dostaje konwulsji z takiego powodu ?
narazie
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Many Iraqis Protest Their Day Off
Associate Saturday With Jewish Day of Rest
By MAGGIE MICHAEL, AP 02-27-05 06:16 EST
Some 400 high-school students in Baghdad force their teachers to violate a
new government order declaring Saturday a day of rest
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (Feb. 27) - Iraqis are complaining about their first-ever
weekend break, and some high-school students even went to class Saturday to
protest a decision introducing a second weekly day off that coincides with
the Jewish Sabbath.
It's not that the Iraqis do not want time off - they just want the extra day
moved to Thursday.
"We don't want Saturday! It's a Jewish holiday!" students chanted as they
marched in protest last week to the governor's office in Baqouba, 35 miles
northeast of Baghdad.
A high-school student pulled out a hand grenade and started waving it, and
police fired into the air to disperse the crowd. At least three students
reportedly were injured in the ensuing scuffle.
At Baghdad's University of Mustansariyah, a statement issued by a student
union believed to be allied with the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr
described Saturday as "the Zionist holiday" and said the government order
should not be followed.
"We declare a general strike in the University of Mustansariyah to reject
this decision and any decision aimed at depriving Iraqis of their identity,"
the statement said.
In predominantly Sunni Muslim Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, the al-
Mutawakal high school opened its doors after insurgents threatened to kill
its teachers if they took the day off.
There is no clear-cut rule for weekends in the Middle East and other Muslim
countries in the region.
In Lebanon, the weekend starts at 11:30 a.m. Friday and includes Sunday.
In Jordan, the weekend is Friday and Saturday. Bahrain, Egypt and Kuwait have
Thursday and Friday off, while conservative Iran and Saudi Arabia only give
Friday off.
AFP/Getty Images
"We don't want Saturday! It's a Jewish holiday!" Iraqi students in Baqouba
protested.
In many Baghdad districts, including Shiite-dominated Sadr City, students and
civil servants ignored the decree and went to school and work. At Sadr City's
al-Fazilah secondary girls school, all 400 girls showed up for class.
"Sadr City is a Shiite Islamic city and we reject Saturday being our holiday
because it is related to the Jewish weekend," said student union leader Safaa
Dawoud Mahmoud, 18.
The student body delivered a letter to the school's administrators demanding
that Thursday and Friday be the official weekend "because both days were
blessed in Islam and by Sharia," or Islamic law.
The students, dressed in long skirts with their hair covered by dense black
veils, vowed to stage sit-ins until the government reverses its decision and
makes Thursday the first day of a two-day weekend.
"We will keep going to school with determination and persistence" on
Saturday, sixth-grader Nassen Dawoud said.
"We can't be like Jews. Saturday is a Jewish holiday and I hope the
government listens to us," sixth-grader Nada Alwan, said.
The influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars, believed to be close to
the insurgency, said that by making Saturday a weekend "the invaders, the
occupiers are trying to impose their principles" on Iraq.
"This decision is dangerous," it said.
In Samarra, one teacher said on condition of anonymity that he had received
death threats from militants warning him not to take Saturdays off.
In Ramadi, the heart of the insurgency in the so-called Sunni Triangle, the
head of Anbar University decided to change the weekend on its own.
"The official weekend is Thursday and Friday," the university announced.
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