Curfew in Baghdad
The Iraqi government will impose a daytime curfew on Baghdad and three surrounding provinces on Friday in an effort to avert sectarian clashes on the Muslim day of prayer, government sources said on Thursday.A overnight curfew will be extended until 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) and police will arrest those who take to the streets, even to go to mosques, sources in the prime minister’s office and the Interior Ministry told Reuters after two days of sectarian violence between Shi’ites and minority Sunni Muslims.
Officials had been forecasting protest marches from both camps and U.S., U.N. and Iraqi leaders have been speaking out on the need for calm to prevent a descent into civil war.
Obviously, this is not a good sign. So far, the reprisals for the destruction of the Golden Mosque have been sporatic and the actions of a distinct minority of Shiites, but tensions are obviously very high. Shiite and Sunni leaders seem to be mostly united in calling for calm, but the actions of hot heads could certainly send things out of there control.
If I had to bet, I would say that this incident will not end up leading to full civil war, but the odds against that happening are no where near as long as I would like.
