Joint patrols begin in Baghdad

Joint patrols begin in Baghdad

Baghdad's citizens are venting anger at the continuing crime

American forces and Iraqi policemen have started joint patrols in Baghdad to try to restore calm in the city.

A handful of Iraqi police cars, escorted by American troops, were deployed to different parts of the capital for the first time since the city fell into coalition hands.

Around 2,000 Iraqi police officers in Baghdad responded to a call from coalition forces for joint patrols to quell looting which has ravaged the city since the ruling party lost power.

Although calm is returning to parts of Baghdad, in other districts looting and gunfire has continued.

Scores of Iraqi protesters outraged by the lack of security gathered on Monday outside the Palestine Hotel - where much of the international media are based - for a demonstration against the US presence in the city.

One protester, Sabah Mahmud, said: "This is just colonisation. Where is freedom? There is no water, no electricity."

Side arms

On Monday morning, men in uniforms and in plainclothes gathered at the National Police College in response to a call on coalition-run radio and TV for joint patrols.

The looting sparked an anti-US demonstration on Monday

By lunchtime, five Iraqi police cars, escorted by two US Marine Humvees, had left the east Baghdad Iraqi police headquarters to patrol different areas of the capital, news agency AFP reported.

Although 2,000 volunteers have signed up, the force will still be considerably weaker than the 40,000-strong police force which used to keep order in the capital.

It was unclear whether the Iraqi police would initially be allowed to carry side arms.

Old guard returns

Senior police officer Ala Mahdi, said: "I expect to be received with open arms by the Iraqi people.

"The Iraqi police can do their job better than any other person can because their role was purely to deal with criminal cases."

I came here to volunteer to protect state buildings, but I found the same [Baath] party members who tortured us only a few days ago

Ahmad Kadhem, Baghdad resident

But the return of police officers and public servants to work has also raised fears that members of the old regime are reassuming power.

"It's the same people all over again," said Ahmad Kadhem, a 23-year-old Baghdad resident who had gone to one of the city's recruitment centres to sign-up.

"I came here to volunteer to protect state buildings, but I found the same (Baath) party members who tortured us only a few days ago," Mr Kadhem said.

The US marines say they are checking the records of the more senior officers before allowing them to resume work, but the BBC's defence correspondent Paul Adams says using people who were previously associated with Saddam Hussein's Baath Party is unavoidable.

"Being a member of the Baath Party was something every Iraqi needed just to get on in life, you needed membership just to get your children into school," he said.

"So technically you may be using people from the old regime, but they are not necessarily villains," he added.

Divided into zones

BBC correspondent in Baghdad, Andrew Gilligan, says some calm and even normality is returning to parts of Baghdad.

Residents were seen collecting and burning garbage, buses were running and were packed with passengers.

But in some districts, including the old city, looting and quite heavy gunfire are continuing.

Most shops remain closed.

US commander General Tommy Franks has said that Baghdad is now divided into around 60 zones, and that in 10 or 15, there is still resistance.