After the blast, American soldiers surrounded Mr. Sadr's office, but were forced to withdraw after his followers, many armed, showed up.
Immediately after the bomb went off, many young men poured into the police compound, which was being refurbished, but instead of helping the wounded began taking weapons off the soldiers and money from the dead and seriously injured, said Mr. Resem, one of the wounded police officers.
American soldiers soon arrived and threw up rolls of razor wire and a barricade of 20 or so Humvees. The crowd on the other side grew increasingly menacing, with most of their anger aimed at journalists. The crowd did not want the journalists taking their pictures.
The American soldiers eventually ordered journalists to leave for their own safety, and reporters and photographers had to run a gantlet of angry men. A woman who works as an interpreter for French television was grabbed, the long scarf she had used to cover herself ripped away and the camera equipment she was carrying stolen from her.
http:// www.nytimes.com/ 2003/10/09/ international/ middleeast/09CND- IRAQ.html?pagewan ted=2&hp