Iraqi police took down tents and cleared a Sunni sit-in in a flashpoint western city after protesters there agreed to end their months-long demonstration following talks with the Shiite-led government, an official said today.
The protest camp in Ramadi, 115 kilometres west of Baghdad, was one of a half dozen similar sit-ins across Sunni areas in Iraq. Since last December, the Sunnis have been protesting against what they perceive as discrimination at the hands of the country's Shiite-led government and against tough anti-terrorism measures they say target their sect.
Today, security forces dismantled the Ramadi camp, which was set up along a highway linking the city with Baghdad to the east, and Jordan to the west, said Defence Ministry spokesman, Mohammed al-Askari. By early afternoon, the highway was reopened, he said.
The development came after three days of talks between the Ramadi Sunnis and Defence Ministry officials from Baghdad.
There have also been other Sunni sit-ins, in cities such as Kirkuk, Mosul and Samarra, but rallying there has died down over the past months and it was not immediately clear if the camp sites there would be dismantled as well.
Al-Askari told Iraqi state TV that authorities convinced the Ramadi Sunnis late on Sunday to end their protest peacefully. The protesters were also warned that their gathering was a potential place of shelter for al-Qaida fighters but al-Askari said there was no violence during today's police action.
However, a police officer and an army intelligence official said there was an exchange of fire between the police and gunmen in some areas around the camp. Two explosives-laden cars and bombs were found in the camp, the two said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.
The organisers of the Ramadi protest were not immediately available for comment.
Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told The Associated Press that the protesters in Ramadi "still have the right to protest" but "not by erecting tents and blocking roads."
Nickolay Mladenov, the UN envoy to Iraq, called for restraint and dialogue. "Political disputes must be resolved through dialogue and through an inclusive political process," he said.
The Sunni protests have been the scene of frequent clashes with Iraqi police. In one episode, security forces in April carried out a deadly crackdown on a similar protest camp in the northern city of Hawija. The violence killed 44 civilians and one policeman, according to UN estimates.
Since the Sunni protests erupted, insurgents in Iraq mostly al-Qaida fighters but also other militants have stepped up attacks across the country, sending violence to levels not seen since 2008, when sectarian killings nearly tore Iraq apart in the wake of the US-led invasion.
