BAGHDAD, Aug 15 (AFP) - Blocked roads, concrete barricades, tanks and sniffing dogs greeted participants Sunday in Iraq's national conference, billed as the war-torn country's first experiment with democracy in decades.
Two main roads leading to the venue were blocked with police cars. A tank manned by Iraqi national guardsmen, backed by US soldiers in an armoured vehicle, stood at the entrance of the convention centre inside the fortified Green Zone which houses the seat of the interim government and the US embassy.
Everyone entering the area was subjected to a thorough body search at several checkpoints manned by US soldiers and Iraqi security staff, while German shepherd dogs sniffed bags and other personal belongings twice.
US helicopters criss-crossed the skies of Baghdad from the early hours and the al-Jumhuriya (republic) bridge spanning the Tigris river was shut.
The government has imposed an 8:00 am (0400 GMT) to 4:00 pm (1200 GMT) curfew in the old Karkh and Sheikh Marouf neighbourhoods adjacent to the Green Zone for the duration of the conference, expected to last until Monday or Tuesday.
The neighbourhoods on Baghdad's west bank are known trouble spots that have seen clashes in recent days between US troops and insurgents.
About 1,300 delegates from Iraq's 18 provinces representing political parties, civic and religious organisations, are expected to attend the event which is tasked with appointing a national council.
The body will have limited legislative powers and advise the caretaker government as it paves the way for national elections in January 2005.
The conference will also hold working sessions on the political process, reconstruction, human rights and justice for those that suffered under the previous regime.
The bulk of proceedings will be held in a large conference room inside the convention centre that was used under the previous regime of Saddam Hussein to celebrate national holidays.
Only part of the proceedings will be transmitted live through closed circuit cameras to a horde of journalists in another conference room, organisers said.
The event is the brainchild of the dissolved US-led occupation and the United Nations, which has helped in its preparations and will oversee its workings.
Both radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr and the influential Sunni Committee of Muslim Scholars have announced their decision to boycott the event, dismissing it as unrepresentative of the true will of the Iraqi people.