BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – Iraqi authorities have reopened one of Baghdad’s major bridges, shut for months by protesters, in a sign of a lull in unrest that forced the prime minister to resign last year.
The Sinak Bridge, one of the main routes across the Tigris River that bisects the city, leads to a district near the fortified Green Zone of government and diplomatic buildings.
It runs parallel to another major bridge, Al Jumhuriya, which connects the Green Zone itself to the main protest camp at Tahrir Square, and which remains shut.
"Since early this morning, ... with the cooperation of protesters, we were able to re-open the Sinak bridge to let vehicles and residents cross freely,” said Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Bayati, the secretary of the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces.
Security forces could be seen near cranes lifting cement barricades put up to block protesters from crossing the bridge. Some tents belonging to protesters were still in place.