Crowds flock to Baghdad zoo for Eid
BAGHDAD (AFP) — War-weary Baghdadis determined to forget daily violence and economic hardships on the Eid al-Fitr holiday flocked Saturday for a day of picnicking and recreation at the zoo, despite its dearth of animals.
With entrance free for Eid, long queues formed outside Al-Zawraa zoo in central Baghdad for much of the day as people waited to pass through gates strictly secured by police in a road patrolled by US and Iraqi troops.
Inside the sprawling park, a sea of relaxed-looking Iraqis strolled between the animal compound and the funfair, winding along pathways that skirted open fields, bold water fountains and flower gardens.
Children, some holding balloons, others toting toy guns, were dressed in spanking new clothes bought for Eid, while teenagers in pressed shirts and neat trousers milled about in groups outside the Al-Baghdadi Restaurant and Casino, a few noisily beating drums and tambourines as others danced and clapped.
Women, some sporting sparkling earrings and finely crafted necklaces, turned out in their finery, wallowing in the rare break from an otherwise dangerous daily routine of frequenting markets and getting the children to and from school in a city strangled by sectarian strife.
Little Haja, just two years old, prefers the animals but her three-year-old brother Abdullah likes the rides at the funfair, said their father Mohammed Hussein, 32, sitting under a tree and cracking sunflower seeds with his teeth.
"Haja cried when we took her away from the animals but she was scared of the rides," said the balding civil servant with powerful tattooed arms, who was visiting the zoo for the first time in four years.
"We can't say at this time that the security situation is good but it is better. Which is why we decided to come the zoo."
Hussein remembers when the zoo was crowded every weekend by people who came to see its vast numbers of animals -- around 650 at its peak -- during the rule of Saddam Hussein.
But it was badly affected by the US-led invasion of 2003 because it is sited near many of Saddam's old palaces, which were targeted during the bombing. Some cages were damaged and animals killed. Others escaped or were stolen.
Today there are only birds and a few dozen animals, among them badgers, buck, goats, Egyptian pelicans, Indian peacocks and, pride of the zoo, some lions that were once kept as pets by Saddam Hussein's son Uday.
"The only time I can get out is at Eid," said 40-year-old Um Hamed, enjoying a picnic with her children under a tree near the tracks of a blue and yellow zoo train crammed with chattering over-excited children.
"We come here every year at Eid. There is more security and the streets are safer," said Um Hamed, who is married to a civil servant. "The zoo is the only safe place in Baghdad -- but only at Eid."
Civil servant Mohammed Hashim, 33, holding his two-and-a-half year old daughter Mirriam in his arms outside a cage housing two cheetahs, said he too brings his family to the zoo every Eid.
"The security situation in Baghdad is better now," he said, supporting claims by the US and Iraqi commanders that violence levels in the capital have dropped since a surge in troop numbers on the streets from February.
"It may be safer but there is no happiness. I am a civil servant and I deal with many people, but they are not happy. The only time I see happy people is at the zoo at Eid," said Hashim.
Despite the apparent tranquillity, however, sectarian divisions and violence were not far from the surface.
Most of those who turned up on Saturday were Shiites, some as they walked chanting the praises of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, with Sunni Arabs either fearful or using the day to visit family.
Around noon, heavy gunfire erupted outside the main gate sending people in the queues scattering.
Some witnesses reported a skirmish between Iraqi police and their counterparts in the army while others said police had fired in the air.
The gunfire quickly died away and the queues formed again.
"What do you expect, this is Iraq," said a security guard at the gate.
