Iraqis burn British flag in abuse protest

More than 1,000 protesters burned a British flag today and the regional administration in Iraq’s main southern province severed all ties with British authorities over video footage showing British soldiers beating and kicking Iraqi youths two years ago.

Protesters, many of them supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, marched on the British consulate in Basra, where they burned a British flag and shouted slogans against the alleged abuse of the youths during a riot January 10, 2004 in the southern city of Amarah.