Falluja residents rename main street after "Martyr Saddam"

Falluja, Dec 31, (VOI) - Residents in the restive Iraqi town of Falluja on Sunday circulated leaflets renaming the main street in the town after the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, eyewitnesses said. The leaflets, distributed by hand and posted on walls, carried the signatures of Falluja residents, the witnesses told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "Falluja main street which lies along Simak U.S. base has been renamed Martyr Saddam street in appreciation and commemoration of his visit to Falluja," one of the citizens said. The deposed president was hanged on Saturday and laid to rest in his home village of Awja at dawn on Sunday. He had visited Falluja twice, in 1982 and in 1991. Meanwhile, Falluja was in mourning over his death, with most of the families staying at home, streets empty and most of the shops and markets closed. Falluja council of clan chiefs denounced the execution of Saddam. "Executing Saddam Hussein at this time in particular and on the morning of the first day of Eid al-Adha (Bairam)... indicate politicizing the political work and failure of any attempt to reconcile with the Iraqi government," the chiefs said in a statement, a copy of which was received by VOI. "The execution of Saddam and what accompanied it of sectarian shouts confirm that (Prime Minister Nouri) al-Maliki's government is not interested in the unity of Iraqis," the statement added. The tribal chiefs described hanging Saddam as an "Eid gift presented by Maliki's government to Iran." Falluja is 45 km west of Baghdad.