May 20, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1424

BAGHDAD, May 19: About 100 bus drivers staged a protest on Monday demanding their company chief be reinstated by the US authorities who sacked him because of his Baath Party background.

The protestors gathered outside the Palestine Hotel and praised the professional and human qualities of Yaarub Hussein, director general of the public transport company.

“The director general of our company, Yaarub Hussein, personifies justice and compassion,” reads one banner.

Abbas Ghazaal, a senior company employee who turned out for the protest, explained that Hussein was a member of one of the many branches of the Baath Party, which led to his dismissal.

“We are protesting against his sacking because he’s an honest and fair man who has never harmed anyone,” Ghazaal said.

“It was perfectly normal for him to belong to the Baath (party) because all Iraqis who wanted to work in the State civil service had to be members.”

Ghazaal said that since Hussein took over eight months ago, he had helped those in difficulty and run the outfit “in a democratic way”.

“We will give a letter to the American administrator Paul Bremer on Wednesday asking from him to reinstate the director general,” he said.—AFP