BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) — Police were put on a state of alert in the restive Iraqi city of Baquba on Monday, an official said, as thousands of people staged angry street protests to demand the sacking of the police chief.
About 3,500 demonstrators marched through the streets of Baquba, which lies north of Baghdad in Diyala province, led by tribal leaders and members of a powerful anti-Qaeda "Awakening" front, an AFP correspondent said.
They demanded that the highly-unpopular police chief Major General Ghanim al-Quraishi be sacked, saying he should be held accountable for recent kidnappings in separate incidents of two women and two men.
They also demanded, in a petition handed over to the Diyala provincial governor, that detainees being held without trial be released.
"We have declared a state of alert," said Brigadier General Raghib al-Omairi, adding that police had been deployed "intensively" across the city.
Members of the Awakening council had previously accused Quraishi, a Shiite, of refusing to accept Sunni Arab police recruits and of being responsible for abductions of Sunnis.
Abu Haider al-Katib, a spokesman for the 1920s Revolution Brigades, the largest of the Awakening components, told AFP that if their demands were not met, they would "take up arms" against the police "and US troops if they support the police."
"The most important of our demands are the dismissal of the police chief, the release of those with no evidence against them and the ending of the sectarian bias in the security services."
Awakening groups have been formed across the country by the US military to aid in the fight against Al-Qaeda, with around 77,500 Iraqis now involved, according to latest US military numbers.
For 10 dollars a day, volunteers patrol neighbourhoods or control checkpoints and part of their job is to alert the US military of suspicious movements.
US military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith on Sunday told reporters that events in Baquba were an "encouraging sign."
"You're seeing democracy at work here -- you're seeing Awakening groups who have risked everything to provide peace and security to the neighbourhood who have differences with the police chief," he said.
"That's been dealt with essentially by them saying until you can solve our problems... we're not going to participate in supporting you in providing security in the area," added Smith.
"That's been done in a way that is much more beneficial than perhaps the alternative which could be through violence. It's a constructive dialogue. It's a purposeful attempt on the part of the Awakening groups to make their voices known and that's an encouraging sign."
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