Iraq: Baghdad Green Zone reopened to public

Описание: (8 Jan 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baghdad - 8 January 2023
1. Wide of the Green zone gates being opened by soldiers
2. Various of vehicles entering Green Zone
3. Close of signs reading (English/Arabic): “City Center" and "Karada-Doura”
4. Wide of road
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Major General Jassim Yahya, Follow-up Affairs for the Office of the Prime Minister.
“The Green Zone area will be completely open to the public as of 5 in the morning, meaning 5 at dawn till 19:00 (local time) according to a drawn-up plan.”
6. Armed soldiers at Green Zone gates
7. Various of cars moving at the Victory Arch, known as the "Crossed Swords" monument, at the Grand Celebrations Square inside Green Zone
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Brig. Gen Muhammad Mahmoud, traffic police:
“All doors and tunnels within the Green Zone have been opened. The Damascus Gate and Al-Zaitoon Street Gate as well as all entry and exit subways within the Zaitoon Street tunnel. It will open from 5 in the morning until 7 in the evening. Citizens will not need (the green zone entry) badges.”
9. Armed soldier
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Usama Hassan, Baghdad resident:
“We have been waiting for a long time for the Green Zone to fully become open because I am an employee at the University of Baghdad, so I need to go to the Al-Alawi area and back to the Al-Jadriya area. Now the process has been facilitated and the congestion in the streets has been reduced, in addition to the speed of arrival.”
11. Various of soldiers monitoring cars as they enter Green Zone
STORYLINE:
Iraqi authorities reopened Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Sunday in an attempt to ease traffic jams in the capital after it was closed and reopened several times in recent years.

Starting in the early hours of the day, Iraqi authorities removed checkpoints and opened major roads and tunnels that cut through the zone on the west bank of the Tigris River.

Cars will be allowed to pass through the area while trucks will be banned, officials said.

The Green Zone, which houses Iraqi government buildings and the sprawling U.S. Embassy, will be open every day for 14 hours starting at 5 a.m., Maj. Gen. Jassim Yahya told The Associated Press.

During that period, Yahya said, “all the Green Zone will be open for the public.”

The 4-square mile (10-square kilometer) zone with its palm trees and monuments has been mostly off limits to the public since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq to topple President Saddam Hussein.

It was opened for the first time in 2019, then closed and opened again several times since.

In the past, only Iraqis with special security badges could enter the area.

The walled off area surrounded by cement blast walls became a hated symbol of the country’s inequality, fueling the perception among Iraqis that their government is out of touch.

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