Gallery: Baghdad sees huge crowds attend Summer Festival

Neon red, yellow and white stage lights helped transform the basketball court in the People's Stadium in central Baghdad into a club for the "Summer Festival", the first celebration of its kind in the city

AFP/Getty Images

1 of 6

Hundreds of Iraqi teenagers clapped along exuberantly to techno beats pumping across a makeshift dance hall on Friday night, a scene their capital had not witnessed in decades.

AFP/Getty Images

2 of 6

AFP/Getty Images

3 of 6

The party started at noon with a car show: classic cars, souped-up four-wheelers and motorcycles with proud owners revving their engines.

AFP/Getty Images

4 of 6

As the DJ took the stage, boys and girls alike swayed and sang along to Western tunes, alternated with popular Iraqi hits.

AFP/Getty Images

5 of 6

Though there were only a few young women among the 1,000 or so revellers, their presence was notable in a country where public spaces remain conservative.

AFP/Getty Images

6 of 6

Friday's festival was the latest indication that Iraq is entering a phase of relative stability, with blast walls and checkpoints coming down across the capital.