The demonstrators, led by Shia clerics, had marched through the main streets carrying banners against occupation and declaring: “Answer our demands or you will regret it.” They rallied outside the British forces’ HQ, where three children dressed in white shrouds chanted “Down, down tyranny, down, down Jews” and “Leave our land”.

Sheikh Khazrej Saadi said that British officers promised to give an answer by Tuesday to demands that the people of Basra be allowed to set up an administrative council and a consultative council. “We do not believe their promise, but we will wait until Tuesday,” he told the crowd. “Then we will take action.”

British forces announced last month that they would replace an Iraqi city council, which was hailed as a model of post-war co-operation, with a committee of technocrats chaired by a British military commander for Basra, which has a population of some 1.5 million people.

The decision sparked an angry reaction from the 30-member council, which is headed by a local tribal chief and was working to re-establish civic order in the city with British and US blessing. (AFP)

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