Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News Staff

BAGHDAD, 12 January 2004 — Impatience with Iraq’s occupying forces boiled over yesterday as unemployed Iraqis turned violent, pelting British troops with stones and a top Shiite cleric demanded the country’s next Parliament be elected — not chosen by local caucuses, as foreseen by the Americans.

Also yesterday, a US-backed Iraqi politician said an ongoing purge of members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party had pushed 28,000 Iraqis from their jobs, with a similar number expected to follow.

In the southern city of Ammara, waves of protesters — some armed with sticks and shovels — rushed British troops guarding the city hall, a day after clashes there killed six protesters and wounded at least 11.

The British drove the crowd back from the compound, which also houses the US-led occupation force and the 1st Battalion of Britain’s Light Infantry. Booms and flashes of light from makeshift bombs exploded in the melee.

“Yesterday there were more adults with much more violent intent,” said British Maj. Johnny Bowron. “We are trying to permit a peaceful protest but prevent loss of life or damage to property.”

Tensions in Ammara, 320 kilometers (200 miles), southeast of Baghdad, erupted Saturday after hundreds of Iraqis gathered to protest that authorities had not kept a promise to give them jobs.

Yesterday, demonstrators said they were looking to avenge those killed Saturday. There were no reports of injuries yesterday.

Demonstrators sent a representative to talk to British and Iraqi officials, who promised them 8,000 jobs, according to witnesses. But protesters said a similar promise made weeks before had not been fulfilled and the clash ensued.

Prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq, Saddam’s security forces were the biggest employer in this city of 400,000.

Also yesterday, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric warned that the current US plan to select a provisional national assembly would give birth to an illegitimate Iraqi government.

“This will, in turn, give rise to new problems and the political and security situation will deteriorate,” Ayatollah Ali Al-Husseini Al-Sistani said in a statement released by his office in Najaf, south of Baghdad.

Al-Sistani demanded the assembly be directly elected rather than chosen through the US caucus plan. He said credible elections could be held in Iraq within months. The influential ayatollah’s opposition complicates American efforts to hand power to Iraqis by July 1.

Al-Sistani also balked at US plans to seek quick approval for the continued occupation of Iraq through its hand-picked Governing Council. The ayatollah said only an elected government could sign off on the presence of US troops beyond July 1.

Al-Sistani’s views are widely respected by Iraq’s Shiite majority. His opposition forced the Americans to change their transition plans once already.