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
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. 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. The party started at noon with a car show: classic cars, souped-up four-wheelers and motorcycles with proud owners revving their engines. As the DJ took the stage, boys and girls alike swayed and sang along to Western tunes, alternated with popular Iraqi hits. 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. 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.
