A few hundred Iraqi communists took to the streets of Baghdad for the first time in decades to mark May Day.
The party was banned by the regime of Saddam Hussein, even though 1 May was observed as a national holiday.
The men, women and children who gathered in central Baghdad to mark May Day sported red scarves adorned with the communist hammer and sickle, and waved red flags.
The choice of venue was significant - Fardus Square is where Iraqi crowds pulled down a huge bronze statue of the deposed Iraqi leader hours after American troops captured the city.
With fists in the air, the communist demonstrators marched under banners calling for security, peace and democracy in Iraq, and chanted hopeful songs calling for a happy future for a united and free Iraq.
Political voices
Like many other Arab regimes, Saddam Hussein outlawed the Iraqi communist party and persecuted its members.
But despite that, the party, which used to be one of the best organised leftist groups in the Arab world, has survived with a newspaper, Tareeq Al-Shaab, and a radio station operating out of the Kurdish region in the north.
The party says since the fall of the Baath regime, it has been opening new offices throughout Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2994025.stm
The party was banned by the regime of Saddam Hussein, even though 1 May was observed as a national holiday.
The men, women and children who gathered in central Baghdad to mark May Day sported red scarves adorned with the communist hammer and sickle, and waved red flags.
The choice of venue was significant - Fardus Square is where Iraqi crowds pulled down a huge bronze statue of the deposed Iraqi leader hours after American troops captured the city.
With fists in the air, the communist demonstrators marched under banners calling for security, peace and democracy in Iraq, and chanted hopeful songs calling for a happy future for a united and free Iraq.
Political voices
Like many other Arab regimes, Saddam Hussein outlawed the Iraqi communist party and persecuted its members.
But despite that, the party, which used to be one of the best organised leftist groups in the Arab world, has survived with a newspaper, Tareeq Al-Shaab, and a radio station operating out of the Kurdish region in the north.
The party says since the fall of the Baath regime, it has been opening new offices throughout Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2994025.stm
