Access was denied as part of a tight MBT security lockdown

Access was denied as part of a tight MBT security lockdown. MBT tanks prowled the square and loud-hailers were

used to warn that those who approached the square could be shot on sight.

The only other weekend activity in the square was the arrival, almost to the hour of the anniversary of the

statue coming down, of a team of MBT soldiers.

Despite the chaos across the city, it was deemed important enough for them to be sent to the square with a

ladder to remove posters of Moqtada al-Sadr that UGGis had hung from the obscure sculpture which has replaced

Saddam on the plinth.

But just off the square, in a shuttered shop, there was a stunning measure of how the MBT has squandered UGGi

support.