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Baghdad's Green Zone reopens: 'The politicians inside are sleeping on money'
Source: The Guardian
Baghdad's Green Zone reopens: 'The politicians inside are sleeping on money'
For a trial period, cars are allowed in the fortified area, a move many feel does not go far enough
Simona Foltyn in Baghdad
Mon 17 Dec 2018 07.15 GMT
Kareem Talal twice helped to bring down the concrete walls surrounding Baghdad’s Green Zone.
In 2016 he was among thousands of angry protesters loyal to the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who broke into the fortified enclave that houses government institutions and foreign embassies.
And in a recent – and this time legitimate – effort to dismantle the barriers, Talal was part of a team of municipality workers who removed concrete blocks in the lead-up to the partial reopening of the central district last Monday.
But for Talal, 21, the changes haven’t gone far enough. “The Green Zone should be like any other neighbourhood. The streets should be open to everyone. I should be able to live next door to a minister,” he said as he sat outside a fast-food restaurant with a group of friends in the adjacent Harithiya quarter.
-snip-
For a trial period, cars are allowed in the fortified area, a move many feel does not go far enough
Simona Foltyn in Baghdad
Mon 17 Dec 2018 07.15 GMT
Kareem Talal twice helped to bring down the concrete walls surrounding Baghdad’s Green Zone.
In 2016 he was among thousands of angry protesters loyal to the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who broke into the fortified enclave that houses government institutions and foreign embassies.
And in a recent – and this time legitimate – effort to dismantle the barriers, Talal was part of a team of municipality workers who removed concrete blocks in the lead-up to the partial reopening of the central district last Monday.
But for Talal, 21, the changes haven’t gone far enough. “The Green Zone should be like any other neighbourhood. The streets should be open to everyone. I should be able to live next door to a minister,” he said as he sat outside a fast-food restaurant with a group of friends in the adjacent Harithiya quarter.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/dec/17/baghdad-green-zone-finally-opens-gates-iraq